


HMS Leo

by worldturnedupsidedown



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airships, Alien Technology, Alternate Universe - Earth, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, F/M, Minor Injuries, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 01:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11772222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worldturnedupsidedown/pseuds/worldturnedupsidedown
Summary: Between the Altean and Galra royal guests on the airship, the handsome Prince and the hostage situation, Pidge promised herself she would never complain about a boring week again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Pidge and Shiro](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/315276) by Doodle Bug Art. 



> Thank you very much to my artist and my beta, both of which were super patient with me despite my lateness and crappy communication. I had a great time writing this fic (after the procrastination stress). Thanks also to the mods for organising this whole big bang, this fic wouldn't be here without them!

Pidge had been drooling in her sleep. When she woke up, there was a wet puddle underneath her cheek and she wiped her mouth, thankful there had been no one else around to see that. None of her machines were affected, she had fallen asleep on top of a wrench, and the general noise of the ship continued above her, so no one had caught her sleeping on the job.

She stood up and stretched, her fingers skimming the top of her ceiling as she did so. It was good she had inherited both her mother and brother's small frames, otherwise, she would be permanently cramped in this room. As it was, there was just enough room for her bed, her workbench and a small bookcase.

Someone yelled her name outside the door, muffled and indistinct but it made her jump and check her pocket watch. Ten minutes late for her shift. "Ah crap." Her back protested the strange sleeping situation she had been in but there was no time as she threw on her uniform waistcoat and picked up her tool belt. Her hair was getting too long, skimming her shoulders now, and it required a brush through it.

"I'm coming!" Pidge yelled as her name was yelled again. She did a quick check of her quarters, messy and covered in mechanical parts but nothing out of the ordinary, and stepped out into the bowels of the ship. Her room was at the very back of the airship, nearest the steam and hydraulic engines. The hiss and spitting of the steam was familiar to her after nearly two weeks on the ship HMS Leo and was easy enough to ignore.

As she travelled down the narrow, dark corridors, ready to make her daily inspections of the engines, she caught sight of Hunk and Lance highlighted in the window by the moon starting to rise.

"What are you two doing?" Pidge asked, unable to resist the temptation. She was already late, another few minutes wouldn't matter. Hunk jumped but Lance simply glanced back before getting back to staring out the window.

"We're landing at Balmera and Hunk wanted a chance to look at Princess Shay again," Lance said, causing Hunk to flush red and deny it. "And Prince Shiro and Queen Allura are joining the ship here."

"We're getting actual Altean royals? I thought they always went on their own airship." Pidge, interested now despite herself, pressed against the window to try and see. The view was awful, the dock distant and small but she caught a flash of bright yellow, the usual colour of Balmeran robes, and there was the white of Queen Allura's hair, shining in the moonlight. The other figures weren't quite as visible but the pale Altean robes made it easier to pick out the individual figures.

"Their own ship had that accident, remember?" Hunk said. "The explosion and everything. Iverson has been panicking over this for weeks. Nothing can go wrong now we have both Galra royalty and Altean royalty on our ship."

Lance squinted through the window as the ship swung closer. "Prince Shiro looks different than the Queen and the Prince Consort. He doesn't look Altean."

"Yeah, he came from America. But he saved the life of Queen Allura when she was a Princess, at least that's what everyone says, and King Alfor made him a Prince in recognition of it. He's not in the line of succession but gets everything else with being Prince."

"That's what everyone says?" Pidge repeated curiously. The airship wouldn't land if they were just picking up a few passengers, the smaller transport ship would be used instead, but as the ship got closer to the dock they could see everyone more clearly. Princess Shay was dressed in warm yellow robes and she was smiling as she bowed at Queen Allura and Prince Shiro. Her brother was scowling next to her and gave a quick sketch of a bow when required. Queen Allura and Prince Shiro didn't seem offended but she could see the Prince Consort bristling at the insult. The Alteans had their backs to them which gave them only glances of their profile but she could see the Prince had a shock of white hair, though it didn't seem as vibrant as Allura's, and was standing a few inches behind the Queen and the Prince Consort.

"Well, no one knows for sure why he went from ordinary person to Prince, it's all kept quiet, but it had to be something big to become a Prince."

"You know way too much gossip about this, Hunk," Lance said. He was almost pressing his nose to the window. "Who's the idiot with the mullet beside Prince Shiro?"

Hunk opened his mouth to reply when a loud voice came from behind them. "What do you three think you're doing?!" They all jumped and turned to face their manager. Iverson looked like he was going to blow a blood vessel with how red his face had gotten.

"We were just-" Lance started but was interrupted by Iverson.

"You were just lazing around instead of working, that's what you were doing." Iverson took in a deep breath, reminding Pidge uncomfortably of a bull about to charge. "Nothing is so important as these guests coming on board. We have to make a good impression and three layabouts doing nothing is not the impression we want to make. Now get back to your posts."

The three of them scattered but as Pidge went back to checking the engines, she couldn't help but think of the Queen and Prince on the airship. Pidge might be one of the younger crew members, but she was one of the best (probably the only reason Iverson hadn't kicked her off the ship by now). Queen Allura and Prince Shiro would see the best they could possibly see.

**

Rover, the little mechanical dog she had created when she was bored and whose creation had allowed her to climb the rungs to become Assistant Chief Engineer, stayed close to her feet as she moved through the crew corridors. They were far narrower than the corridors designed for paying passengers and it meant when someone came from the opposite direction, Pidge had to press herself against the wall to get past. Rover copied her and she patted his head as he did so.

One of the passengers had complained of their bath not working. The mechanism to get hot water was powered by steam and each first class guest had an individual one in order to get the perfect temperature of water. Going up to first class was exciting and humiliating at the same time for Pidge. First class passengers had the best engines, the ones Pidge longed to take apart in order to see how it works and how it could be improved, but they always looked at her well-worn clothes and oil-streaked face with disdain. Nevermind the fact that without Pidge, they would have to live without hot water or wake up machines or clockwork attendants (although clockwork was far more Hunk's thing than hers). It never occurred to them that Pidge was far more useful on the airship than they could ever hope to be.

Taking Rover was a small rebellion, but he made her feel better about being up here. Anytime Iverson asked, she said it meant she could go up the floors alone because Rover would be her assistant.

The doors which housed the Galra Emperor and the Galra Princess were avoided at all costs and Pidge could only be glad that she didn't have to go into their rooms today. She found the room she needed and after a quick knock, nobody in, she unlocked the door with her key and slipped inside. The bath didn't take long to fix, but Iverson radioed her to say that the barman was also causing trouble and Hunk was caught up downstairs. The actual mechanisms were working fine but he wasn't able to move as something had caught in the platform which used steam to power him up and down the bar. Pidge bent down and got to work, enjoying the mindlessness of it to turn over her own thoughts.

Rover barked as he handed her the wrench and it covered the sound of the door opening. It was only when she heard footsteps that Pidge froze. She looked up just as a large hand descended to grab her goggles and a handful of hair at the same time.

Pidge yelled as she was dragged out from behind the bar by her hair, her eyes watering. Her hands came up to try and push the attacker away but it was like he was built out of stone. She managed to open her eyes to see the face of the Galra Emperor, ugly and terrifying. Rover was barking frantically behind her but she had programmed him to not attack directly if it would cause him damage.

"Emperor Zarkon, let go!" A powerful voice commanded and Zarkon dropped Pidge, letting her crumple to the ground. She looked up just in time to block a kick to the face with her hand. Something audibly snapped in her wrist and she moaned in pain, backing away on her one good hand. "Stop that!" The voice said again.

"What are you doing in Prince Shiro's room, little rat?" Zarkon bent down to Pidge's level, but that simply made him more terrifying. There was a glint of malicious satisfaction in his eyes as he looked at her tear-stained face and where she was clutching her left hand protectively to her chest.

Pidge didn't want to tell him anything, partly out of fear and partly out of sheer stubbornness. She had a perfectly good reason to be here, Zarkon should have asked before he instantly attacked. There were footsteps behind Zarkon and just as he was looking impatient, he was shoved none too gently to one side.

"Emperor Zarkon, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. She isn't going to tell you anything, especially not after you kicked her." Zarkon stood up, now fully ignoring Pidge, and was instead staring down someone who could only be Prince Shiro. He was far more handsome up close, wearing the light blue Altean robes. The lock of white hair hung down over his forehead, but the rest of his hair was pitch black and cut short.

"Prince Shiro, this rat broke into your room. I believe it requires punishment." Zarkon's voice was far more soothing now, but that simply made it worse. Prince Shiro narrowed his eyes at him, non-verbally saying he wasn't going to move from this position. Zarkon seemed to take the hint and left the room, but not before one last poisonous glare at Pidge.

Prince Shiro didn't take his eyes off Zarkon until after he left the room, at which point he turned to Pidge with a reassuring smile. "Are you okay?"

Pidge smiled back, she couldn't help it. "I'm fine. It's just my wrist." It was throbbing with pain now and she didn't want to move it from where she had pressed it against her chest, but when Shiro stretched out his hand in silent request, she laid her hand in his. Shiro's eyebrows drew down in concern as he examined it, careful not to touch the injured area.

"I think Altean medicine would be best here." He gently led her over to a white box set on a table. It was the whitest, cleanest thing Pidge had ever seen and she almost didn't want to touch it, sure she would get oil and coal dust all over it. Shiro pulled back the top white cover and gently put Pidge's hand and wrist inside it. A blue light swept over Pidge's hand but didn't hurt at all. There was a sharp pain and then there was nothing. Her wrist wasn't broken anymore.

"That's amazing," Pidge said as she pulled out her hand and stared at it. No swelling, no deformity, and no pain. Then something clicked inside of her and she bent down in front of the healing cube. "How does it work? Do you have to always put the injury inside or can you do bigger body parts? Does it do disease?"

"I'm not sure. Allura and Coran were the ones who normally use it." Prince Shiro sounded amused. "Are you sure you're not hurt? Zarkon grabbed you pretty hard there." He glanced up at Pidge's hair.

"My head hurts a little." Pidge grimaced at the memory, the happy feeling of new tech disappearing. "I probably should finish fixing up your barman as well." She approached the bar and Rover appeared from behind it, barking at Prince Shiro. "It's alright, Rover, I'm fine now."

"Who's this?" Shiro bent down and held out his hand to Rover, like he was a real dog rather than made out of clockwork and gears. "You called him Rover?"

"Yeah, I made him one day. I made sure he would run if someone like Zarkon came along. I can't have him being broken." Pidge patted him affectionately and Rover jumped up, his mechanical ears flapping as he did so. "It's only when it's against someone like Zarkon who would crush him in one blow. My friend, Lance, on the other hand looks like a pole and so Rover has no problems annoying him. Last week, he tripped Lance right into the cafeteria mess." With a start, Pidge realised she was babbling out of sheer nervousness and the last thing Prince Shiro probably wanted to hear was Pidge's chatter about her friends. "And you don't need to hear that. I'll get back to fixing your barman."

Shiro looked up. His expression was friendly and open, a smile teasing at his lips. "It's fine. I like listening to it." Shiro stood up, towering over Pidge. She hadn't realised the sheer height of him until she wasn't distracted by Zarkon and new tech. "What's your name by the way?"

"Katie Holt," Pidge replied automatically, sticking her left hand out for Shiro to take, her right being covered in grease. He did so without the slightest hesitation but the hand was made of metal rather than normal human flesh. The fingers shone in the light and she examined them with interest. "My friends call me Pidge," she said absently, too busy contemplating the mechanics behind Shiro's arm. If it wasn't his actual arm, she would have asked if she could have a look at it. Shiro may be nice but he was still a Prince.

"So... what can I call you?" Shiro's voice was light, almost teasing, but there was a strangely sincere note behind it. Pidge looked up, snapped out of her thoughts as she processed the question.

"Call me Pidge." As she looked up, Shiro seemed to be even closer than he was before. His dark eyes were focused on her and she cursed her pale skin as she felt her face grow warm. He really was very handsome, even more so up close and she had to stop herself from leaning forward. The radio on her hip crackling to life made her visibly jump and she caught sight of Shiro giving her an amused smile before he covered it with his hand.

"Holt, there is a problem with the programming of the cooker in the kitchen. People need food, so I need you to get down here as soon as possible." Iverson sounded even more stressed than when Pidge had heard him earlier and she grimaced as she radioed back her confirmation.

"I suppose you had better go then," Shiro said after Pidge and Iverson's conversation was finished. She hoped that it wasn't wishful thinking that made her hear disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah. Otherwise Iverson will probably ban me from the dining hall again. I don't think he's worked out that Hunk brings me food whenever he does this."

Shiro ducked his head and smiled. Pidge wondered what she had to do to get him to actually laugh. "I'm sorry about Emperor Zarkon. I'll talk to him." Pidge didn't think it would do much good, but she was happy about the effort.

"It happens." She shrugged and glanced down in annoyance as she wished she could take the words back. That made it sound like Zarkon's actions were okay or that it happened all the time to Pidge.

"It shouldn't." Shiro sounded firm and when Pidge glanced up, his mouth was set in a line. He was unhappy, but not with her at least.

"Shiro," another voice said. A man dressed in Altean colours, though the style was far more like Pidge's clothes than anything else, stepped into the room. He also had the same rounded ears as Shiro - not native Altean then. He had black hair, longer in the back than in the front, and slender blue-grey eyes which were narrowed suspiciously at Pidge. "Zarkon said someone broke into your room. Is everything alright?" He stepped further into the room and Pidge's gaze dropped to see his hand clenched at the top of a sword. It was sheathed, but Pidge was sure he could slice her in two without hesitation.

"Everything's fine, Keith. Pidge here was fixing the barman and Zarkon didn't bother to ask any questions before he grabbed her. I was getting her healed up." Shiro glanced at his friend, looking amused now. "You probably should call him Emperor Zarkon."

Keith snorted, showing how much he thought of that idea. "I should do a lot of things."

"He won't be any kinder to you at any disrespect than he was to Pidge here." Shiro gestured. Pidge knew she should go, but she was reluctant to leave. There was no other way of directly finding out more about Shiro and that was something she was discovering she wanted to do desperately.

"When he earns my respect, I'll show it," Keith replied grimly. "You alright?"

Pidge realised he was addressing her with a start. She opened her mouth to reply when her radio crackled again. "HOLT!" Iverson's voice filled the nearly empty room and Pidge winced.

"I'm fine," she said to Keith. "Thank you for helping me," she said to Shiro. "But I really have to go." She hurried off, Rover following closely at her heels, trying not to wish that she was Altean royalty herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Pidge knew the ship from back to front. Every air vent, every crawl space, every alcove she had been in at one point or another. The first few weeks she had spent on the _HMS Leo_ , she had spent most of it in the underbelly only known to the engineers who fixed up the ship. Hunk knew some of them but Pidge was able to fit into places his wide shoulders just couldn't. On top of that, her curiosity about the ship was far greater than his. Her friends knew where she went when she disappeared but didn't bother to chase her down, not even when Iverson was on their case. That didn't mean they didn't tease her.

"So, how was our darling Prince today?" Lance asked her as they sat down in the canteen one day. Pidge, poking the grey mess of her food with a spoon, jerked so badly that a splatter of her food flew off her tray and onto Hunk's overalls.

"Pidge really?" Hunk made a disgusted face. "Isn't it bad enough that I have to eat this excuse they call food? Now I have to wear it too?"

"If it bothers you that much, why don't you go and change it?" Pidge asked, desperate to get off the subject of her and Shiro. If it just so happened to get them all better food, that was a bonus.

Hunk looked thoughtful but Lance narrowed her eyes at her. "Nice try." He pointed his dirty spoon at her, brandishing it like a sceptre. "But we're not done talking about you stalking the Prince."

"I am not stalking the Prince!" Pidge denied hotly. She couldn't help it if, when she was doing her rounds, they happened to take her past where the Prince and the Queen were in discussions with the Galra party. What she wanted to know was how Lance knew about her accidental meetings. But, that would be like admitting fault and she couldn't do that.

"Why are you stalking the Prince?" Hunk asked. He took a spoonful of his meal and made a face as if it had personally disappointed him.

"I'm not stalking the Prince!" Pidge said, a little too loudly and then wanted to bash her head against the table to stop herself from talking. "I just happen to see him sometimes," she admitted quietly and tried not to cringe at Lance's triumphant expression.

"Well, he is very pretty," Hunk said diplomatically before Lance could speak. It did nothing to calm Pidge's temper.

"That's not why!" She sighed and realised she might as well admit it to her friends. "He was kind to me when Zarkon attacked me. I just want to know what he's doing with the Galra. There's no reason for him to be talking to them!"

Behind Pidge, the canteen door creaked open. But, she didn't bother to turn around. She was too busy watching her friends' faces. Hunk was looking sympathetic while Lance seemed to be battling with himself. Gloating was the wrong thing to do here, but he knew that Pidge wouldn't accept pity. His face cleared as he spotted something past Pidge. "Hey, there's that Alluran servant. Thinks he's so much better than us just because his clothes are clean." Lance's tone was mocking but Pidge turned rather than point out how ridiculous his words were. She recognised the dark hair and bright eyes of the man who was scanning the canteen.

"Hey, it's Keith." She waved a hand when she caught his eye. It wasn't beckoning him over, just acknowledging that they saw it each other and an invitation if he wished, so she was surprised when he took up that invitation and strode over to them.

"What are you doing?" Lance hissed as Keith walked over but Pidge and Hunk both ignored him. Keith didn't smile, Pidge got the impression that you had to earn that from him, but his eyes lit up as if he was pleased to see her.

"Hi, Pidge," Keith said, ignoring her friends for now. "How's your head? And your arm?"

"Good as new," she replied with a grin. Her arm hadn't hurt at all when she got back to her room, but she hadn't been able to brush her hair without considerable pain for days afterward. She had solved this problem by not brushing her hair at all and just letting it dry naturally after washing. Iverson had complained daily about the mess her hair had been, but considering Pidge stayed out of sight most of the time, he didn't have a chance to complain as much as he wanted to. "Keith, these are my friends, Hunk and Lance. Come sit with us."

"We've already met," Lance said rudely.

Keith looked confused. "Really? When?" He sat down as Lance spluttered and stammered about how Keith should remember, he was the one who committed the grievous injury against Lance. Pidge tuned Lance out after a while, but focusing on her food wasn't doing her any favours so she started to chat to Keith.

"How are the Galra? And Zarkon?" She cut Lance off mid-sentence but he seemed just as interested in the answer as Pidge herself was. She had told Lance and Hunk about everything that had gone on in the Prince's room (leaving out the part about how sweet and good-looking the Prince was) and that they had been rightly indignant towards the Galra. They would have rerouted the power so Zarkon didn't have any hot water or power but then some poor engineer (mostly like Pidge herself) would have been called in to fix it.

Keith made a face. "Still as unpleasant as ever. Shiro doesn't like them either," he said as if that settled the matter.

"And how is Shiro?" Hunk asked, a little too pointedly for Pidge's taste. She glared at him and stabbed her food with her spoon, wishing she could kick him instead.

Keith seemed oblivious to it all as he shrugged at Hunk's question. "He's fine. Getting a little fed up of dealing with Zarkon and Haggar all day but then so would I. Shiro's pretty calm, doesn't really show when he's angry so he's the best person for dealing with Galra. Definitely better than the Queen." He stole a bite of Lance's food and made a face. "That is disgusting."

"Serves you right for stealing food!" Lance retorted and pulled his tray closer to his chest protectively. Pidge made eye contact with Hunk and rolled her eyes. Lance would have given up the food as no good but now that Keith had eaten some of it, he was eating it with possessive fervour.

"You're so weird," Keith said bluntly and Pidge intervened before there could be bloodshed.

"Do you want a tour of the ship?" There. Matters distracted for now. Keith agreed and all four of them (Hunk being curious and Lance not wanting to be left out) headed off around the hidden quarters of the ship. Keith looked happier down here than he had up in the room, less tense somehow despite the dirty and dangerous surroundings, and Pidge thought she almost saw him smile at one point when she showed him the massive engines that propelled the airship.

"Shiro would love this," Keith said quietly to Pidge when Hunk and Lance had been called away by Iverson. Keith was staring up at the engine with an awestruck look in his eye and his fingers twitching as if he wanted to get his hands on them. Pidge recognised the signs, though she wouldn't have put him down for an engineer.

"You could bring him down here? I wouldn't mind giving the tour again." Pidge grinned, though her heart beat faster as she thought of Shiro down in the underbelly of the ship. Something about Shiro screamed royal, maybe it was the pristine robes or his upright bearing, but she found it harder to imagine him down here than it was to imagine Keith.

"He would love that but I'm pretty sure his sense of duty wouldn't," Keith said dryly. "Allura would object to Shiro leaving the negotiations with the Galra just to go wandering around the ship, though I'm pretty sure most of the objection would be out of envy than anything else. It's been a long time since the Queen flew her own ship and I think she misses being down here surrounded by gears and oil and darkness." Keith's words weren't complimentary at all, but there was a wistfulness to his voice which showed deeper feelings.

"I'm guessing she's not the only one who misses it," Pidge said, more cautiously than she would have with one of her friends. Keith reminded her of a cat, ready to puff itself up and hiss when he was unhappy, but perfectly willing to allow liberties when he said it was okay.

He went quiet but didn't snap at her so at least she didn't cross the line. "I guard Shiro and I'm happy to keep doing that until I die, but sometimes I miss being on a ship like this. Flying."

He didn't need to say anything, Pidge could see it in his eyes. She didn't understand the thrill of flying (give her somewhere cold and dark and mechanical any day) but she understood wanting something you could never have. The two of them waited in the dark, listening to the sound of the ship around them. The hiss and creak of the ship was as familiar to Pidge as breathing, and she wondered if she could give this up if someone she loved needed her to. If her brother needed her to come home, Pidge could do it. She would hear the ship's noises in her sleep and every heartbeat would be a reminder of how much she missed it, but she would be able to do it. It was strange because she loved her parents just as much, but she didn't think she would be able to give this up for them. Maybe it was because Matt understood what it would cost Pidge far better than their Mom or Dad ever could.

Keith shifted beside her. "I probably should get back," he said reluctantly. "Do you want to come with me and see Shiro again?"

Her excitement was obvious but she found it hard to restrain herself when she thought of Shiro. As she led Keith up to the first class area, she felt the butterflies in her stomach get worse. It would be better if Rover was here, that meant she had a friend with her even if that friend was one she had built, but he was winding up in her room.

They appeared out of one of the servants' doors on the first class landing and Keith immediately took charge, seemingly perfectly at ease in the first class area. "Hey, Shiro, look who I found." The Prince looked up from his pile of paperwork, face drawn in a stressed frown, when he caught sight of Pidge and his face lit up.

"Pidge! I'm glad to see you." Shiro made his way out of the chair and around the desk in a graceful way that Pidge wouldn't be able to emulate in a million years. "And not just because you're saving me from all this paperwork." He cast a glance at Keith. "I did wonder what was taking you so long to get lunch."

Keith rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going to see how Allura and Coran are doing." He pointedly left them alone and Pidge felt herself blush at all the implications that could mean. There was no Rover here to act as a barrier and she had no idea what to say, apart from asking about his metal arm and even she knew that was rude.

"So what were you and Keith doing that took so long?" There was a strange note in Shiro's voice, something Pidge wasn't able to identify, and she gave him a searching look. Shiro didn't look any different, his eyes were as kind as she remembered and his smile just as dazzling.

"I was giving him a tour of the ship. Well, Lance, Hunk and I were giving him a tour of the ship but the two of them weren't doing much." Pidge smirked at the thought of her friends, though it was far more affectionate than she meant. "They had to go back to work but I woke up early and did my work for the day so I had more time off."

"I'm jealous," Shiro teased. "I'm sure he got a far more interesting tour than I did when I first arrived."

"Well, we didn't manage to make our way up to the first observation deck, which is the best part of the ship. Apart from the engine of course." Shiro nodded and there was only a small hint of teasing to it. "You've been up there?"

Shiro nodded. "The cover was over because of the sun though so we didn't see anything."

Pidge thought quickly and did some silent calculations. "The cover would have just come up and we should be below the clouds as well. Do you want me to take you up there?"

"I would love that," Shiro said quickly with more enthusiasm than Pidge expected from him. They laughed a little and she was delighted to notice a red flush over his cheeks. It made him look a little more human. He offered her his arm and it was her turn to flush as she took it, slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow.

The way she took him up to the observation deck was quicker than the passenger way but she was very conscious of the small, dirty corridors not being what he was used to. Everytime she looked back, however, Shiro was smiling as if everything was wonderful. He would catch her eye and smile wider.

The deck was deserted, though there was a few pieces of rubbish lying around as it came to the end of the day. It was the observation deck which took the most trouble to get to and was the least comfortable, but it meant that crew used this one more than passengers and right now it was empty. Pidge took a few steps until she was in the centre of the window and then turned back to look at Shiro. "Taadah!" She spread her arms wide and tried not to feel too self-conscious as Shiro looked at her rather than at the view.

"Pidge..." He trailed off and she rolled her eyes before grabbing his hand and pulling him forward. Shiro turned his head away and then caught sight of the view. "Wow."

"I know, right?" Pidge bounced on the balls of her feet as she watched Shiro's gaze flick back and forth as he took into the view. Most of the time the view from the observation deck was bright sunlight above the cloud layer, beautiful but dull after a while, but now the sky was clear and the view of the sea city of Atlantis took your breath away. The tall, blue and white spiral towers glinted in the sun and, if she squinted, she could see the many fountains in the city spraying rainbows over the city. "When I was younger, I always wanted to go travelling and visit all the places. My dad did a lot of travel for his job and he always bought back toys and postcards from places like Atlantis, Altea and the Balmera."

"Is that why you came to work on the ship?" Shiro asked. He was looking away from the view now and his gaze felt like a physical touch. Pidge glanced away and felt her cheeks grow hot.

"That and my brother got me a tiny, working model of an airship when I was eight and I spent the next six years taking it apart, putting it back together and building other working models." Pidge fiddled with her tool belt as she looked down at Atlantis. She could just about see the ships around the sea city and wished they were landing down there today.

"I never really travelled before I became Prince and now I do nothing but," Shiro replied. "I've never been to Atlantis though." He put one hand on the glass and looked down, seemingly trying to see more of the city.

"If I went to Atlantis, I would want to go in Fountain Square. Apparently they have fish that camouflage against the water and they tickle your feet." Pidge curled her toes in her boots and closed her eyes to imagine it. Atlantis was a beautiful city but it was expensive to visit so unless the HMS Leo landed there, the chance of Pidge getting to swim Fountain Square were slim to none.

"I think I would like to do the water fly boarding." Pidge opened her eyes to see Shiro with a faint smile on his face. The mischief on his face made him look years younger and Pidge found herself smiling at him. He looked at her, his eyes shining. "Flying over the waves as fast as you can."

"A thrill seeker then?" She teased and Shiro laughed, the white lock of hair falling across his face. He was taller and broader than Pidge, but rather than making her want to get up higher, she wanted to step closer so he had to crane his neck to look down at her. She wanted to press herself closer and wrap herself in him.

Maybe her feelings were a little different from friendly.


	3. Chapter 3

Pidge dumped her tray on the table before clambering into the bench opposite Lance. "Okay, I'm in trouble," she announced in a low voice. The last thing she wanted was for her secret to get broadcast around the crew. One of them would find it hilarious to tell Shiro and then she wouldn't be able to show her face around him again.

"What is it? Is it Keith? I knew he was bad news." Lance looked fiercely protective but considering it seemed to be more Keith-related anger than anything to do with Pidge, it was far more annoying than sweet.

"I may have a small, minuscule really, crush on the Prince." A moment later and the impact of her words hit her friends. Lance looked triumphant, as if Pidge had gotten a doomed crush on a Prince simply to prove him right, and Hunk looked both pleased and sympathetic. It was hard to pull off but Hunk managed it.

"Hey." Keith sat himself down by Pidge, making her jump hard. Once again her lunch ended up on Hunk and she barely mourned the loss. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." She glared at Hunk and Lance and they, understanding just what Pidge would do to them if they spoke up, stayed quiet. Hunk was too busy looking in disgust at the food on his overalls. "What's going on upstairs?"

Keith took a spoonful of Lance's food and ate it without wincing or cringing in disgust. "Shiro and Allura have been in discussions with the Galra all morning. They've stopped for lunch and now both of them are complaining about the Galra."

"What are they discussing anyway?" Hunk asked as he pulled out his travel kit of different herbs and spices he had picked up along the way. He examined the food with a thoughtful air. "So many ways this food could be improved."

"Why don't you get behind the counter? It's not like Volra would care." They looked at the man behind the counter as he snarled into someone's face as they questioned what the food being served was.

"They're discussing Shiro possibly marrying Haggar," Keith said and all talk about Hunk taking over the cooking ground to a halt as the three of them, as one, turned to look at Keith.

"W-What?" Pidge asked.

"Marriage? He's getting married? To the Galra Princess?" Lance asked, stunned. Hunk glanced at Pidge but she was too shocked to care much about how obvious he was being. Shiro hadn't mentioned anything about marriage or Haggar herself.

It felt like she had taken a blow to the gut.

"Well, they're not sure yet," Keith said. He scrunched up his face and took another mouthful of Lance's food, this time getting no reaction as Lance continued to stare. "They want an alliance between the Galra and Altea and since Shiro isn't in the line of succession, they're discussing the possibility of marriage. But the Galra are sneaky and we don't believe they'll actually keep up their end of the bargain." He took another bite of Lance's food. "This food is still disgusting."

"It always is," Hunk replied.

"So, is Shiro getting married or not?" Pidge asked. She couldn't care less about the food, she had lost all appetite. It was bad enough to learn that Shiro was getting married, but the fact that he might be marrying into the same family as Emperor Zarkon, who broke people's arms like they were nothing, made her feel sick. She couldn't imagine Shiro, calm, kind Shiro, having to be around a person like that all the time. That would change even the strongest of people.

"They're not sure. That's what all the negotiations are doing but they want to keep it quiet in case nothing goes through. Very likely it would be a temporary marriage until there is a joint Altean/Galra heir and then Shiro could come home." Keith was saying everything like it was a well-known fact and maybe in his world it was, but that sort of thinking was completely alien to Pidge and she couldn't imagine being forced to marry someone she didn't trust, let alone like.

"I have to go and check on Rover," she said, her voice sounding surprisingly normal, and ignored any of her friends' questions. She barely noticed anything as she walked down the corridors, her feet carrying her to her room without any conscious thought. Shiro, married? She was barely getting used to the fact that she had a crush on the Prince and only a day later, she finds out that he would soon be out of her reach, even more than he already was.

She went into her room and was greeted by Rover, who had been winding up by her bed in his own station. He yipped at her and pawed at her trousers like a real dog and when Pidge sank down into a crouch and wrapped her arms around his cold, mechanical body, he whined in sympathy. "It's okay, Rover. I'm here." As good as Rover was, she wished her brother was here. Matt listened to her, more than anyone, and he would know what to do.

Iverson kept her busy for the rest of the day so she couldn't see her friends, Keith or even Shiro. It was exactly what she needed, but she couldn't help but wish that they would come and find her so she could rant or cry or talk, at the very least. They were giving her space and it was both what she needed and didn't want at the same time.

"She's not even that pretty," she muttered to Rover and then instantly felt stupid. Haggar could be the most beautiful woman in the world and she would still be the horrible woman who had burned one of her maid's faces on her iron for giving her the wrong hairstyle. Her brother would still be Zarkon even if she was pretty. Shiro wouldn't like her at all, no matter what she looked like, and Pidge was being selfish. "We have to show that the Galra can't be trusted," she said to Rover as she climbed the ladder up to one of the main engines. Rover hovered behind her, making her feel glad she had thought to install rocket boots in his paws. She hadn't got them strong enough to support her weight yet but the lighter Rover was far easier.

It was as if someone was listening to her thoughts because Pidge heard Zarkon's voice from one of the vents in the side of the tunnel. It sent shivers down her spine and her arm twinged with remembered pain. A cold sweat had broken out on the back of her neck and she wiped it away with one of her brown gloves. Fear twisted in her stomach and she wished she could just go about her work and not go anywhere near the owner of the voice that had started to haunt her nightmares.

But if they couldn't find any concrete reason why the Galra couldn't be trusted, Shiro would end up marrying the cruel Galra Princess and Pidge couldn't let that happen. "Stay back," she whispered to Rover. "And stay quiet." She hadn't been doing anything wrong when Zarkon had attacked her earlier, she didn't want to think of what he would do if he found her eavesdropping on him.

As quietly as she could, she pulled herself up into the vent shaft. It was a tight fit, all the vent shafts to guests rooms were but again Pidge's small frame saved her from having to turn back now. She shuffled along, slower than she would have liked but she couldn't make any noise that would echo along the vent, and finally managed to get close enough to the grate that she could hear them. She didn't want to get any closer, it would be far easier to spot her eavesdropping if her face was pressed right against the grate.

"He is weak and he is foolish," Haggar was saying as Pidge tuned into the conversation. "Why would I want to marry a man such as that?" Pidge bit her lip as she realised Haggar was talking about Shiro, and a bolt of anger went running through her.

"We all have to make sacrifices, sister." Zarkon managed to sound terrifying even when he was trying to be soothing. "If Queen Allura wasn't already married, I would be offering Lotor as a match for her. Prince Shiro has some degree of fighting skill, enough to earn the Galra technology in his arm. His weaknesses would be offset in any child of yours with your Galra blood. Disgust of the Galra will lead to the Prince letting you bring the child back to the Galra, to their rightful home, in order for them to be raised up right."

Haggar made a sound of disgust. Pidge felt like she wanted to go and have a shower, feeling dirty for the first time that day as she listened to Zarkon and Haggar discuss Shiro as if he was a wind-up toy, designed to do what they were told. "Do you think he could be molded?" Haggar asked.

Zarkon was silent for a moment. "You're the scientist, Haggar, you tell me. Could your magic change him into the perfect Galra soldier?"

Pidge's breath caught in her throat and she had to stifle a gasp. Magic was rare in the world and the thought of Princess Haggar being one of the people to use it was repellent. The only other person Pidge knew of that had some kind of magic was Queen Allura.

"Possibly, but Allura knows too much about my magic." Haggar sounded bitter and Pidge felt a sudden urge to go and hug Allura, despite having never met her before. "She will not allow the minimum time of isolation required to turn the Prince's thoughts and anything I cast will be temporary as soon as she finds out."

"We need those Altean resources," Zarkon growled and Pidge was unable to restrain a flinch. "Quintessence is far more plentiful within Altean borders than within our own country. Marriage and the Prince's agreement is the only way to get access without a full-scale war."

"And that is out of the question?" Haggar asked silkily. There were sounds of footsteps and Pidge felt herself tense as the sound came closer and closer. It sounded like they were right below the vent.

"We do not have the resources to fight Altea and their allies, not without more stores of quintessence than we could ever hope to fill." Zarkon sighed and there was a rustle of clothing. "Dear sister, I know you believe in Galra superiority but we have to get the Alteans on our side. You have to persuade the Prince that, it may not be a 'love' match, but it would be the right thing to do for his people. The Prince knows his duty, if nothing else."

"I understand, my Emperor." A door opened and shut and Pidge started to slowly make her way back down the air vent, her mind reeling with what she heard. She had to report it to Shiro, but there wasn't anything there that would stop the marriage. Haggar and Zarkon were looking out for their own country's interests, as were Shiro and Queen Allura. At least they could know about the war the Galra were planning as soon as they got hold of their resources.

"Come on Rover," Pidge said as soon as she got to the tunnel. She had to go and check the steam pull of the engine, but it could wait until after she had talked to Shiro. Maybe that would stop the marriage.

The vent was easy enough to take to where the Alteans were staying. She stayed quiet, the only thing worse than Zarkon finding her in the vent would be Shiro finding her in the vent. The dust and dead insects were off-putting, and she had to duck her head several times to stop her goggles bashing on the top of the vent, but she managed to squeeze herself into it. She got a lot closer to the vent cover than she had with the Galra and caught a glimpse of Shiro pacing in front of a pretty woman with white hair wearing pale blue robes, a woman that could only be Queen Allura.

"Allura, I'm happy to do what is needed for Altea but to marry the Galra Princess? I don't think it's going to work out well for me or for us," Shiro was firm in his telling and Pidge secretly rejoiced. She pushed herself closer to the grate than was wise in order to look at Shiro below her.

"Shiro," Allura had a posh voice but she sounded far younger than Shiro at that moment, despite Pidge knowing that Alteans had a far longer lifespan than humans. Shiro had that kind of soothing, mature voice. "I know in human life, you marry for love and sheer want of the connection but you've lived in Altea to know that is rarely the case. My father and my mother were a famous example but marriages like mine and Coran's are far more common." Allura touched a large bracelet on her arm, a sturdy wooden thing with carvings too small for Pidge to see.

"Allura," Shiro micmiced, a little childishly but it just made Pidge grin in delight. "You may not be in love with your husband but you trust him. That is why Alfor asked you to marry. I wouldn't trust Haggar with my favourite pen let alone to sleep beside her."

The Queen sighed and walked over to the windows. Steam was blinding the view from her eyes but she seemed too lost in thought to care. "Shiro, Keith has talked to me about the friend you've made here on the ship."

Shiro stiffened and Pidge felt her curiosity spike. It could only mean her, she hadn't heard of anyone else being accepted into the Prince's quarters like she had. The wave of jealousy at the thought was surprising and more than a little unwelcome. "I know my duty, Allura. I accepted that when I accepted being Prince."

"I still don't understand how you could choose this position." Allura's laugh at the end was born of sadness, not any delight as such. Shiro shook his head and Pidge wished she could be down there, to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him he was doing the right thing.

Something popped up in front of her nose and she had to restrain herself from jumping and alerting the Alteans to her presence. In front of her nose was a little clockwork mouse, gold for the most part with tiny gears at the top of its legs and pink eyes aglow with power. Pidge's fingers itched to take it apart but before she could, it had darted off and a second later the grate was being removed.

"Pidge," Shiro said, honestly surprised, while the Queen frowned as she looked up at Pidge. Uh oh. Busted.

"Hi, Shiro." Pidge smiled as brightly as she could. "Uh, hi, Your Majesty." She nodded as the space was far too limited to bow.

"This is the same friend Keith was talking about?" Allura did not sound happy and Pidge winced but that could be because one of the buckles of her belt jabbed into her side. She shifted inside the vent as much as she could and realisation dawned on Shiro's face.

"Come out of the vent," he said, reaching up a hand. "We can talk when you're out of there and upright." It took the combined efforts of Shiro and Allura before Pidge was able to get out of the vent, the three of them landing in an ungraceful heap on the floor. Even if she tried to imagine it, Pidge wouldn't have been able to come up with a first meeting half as embarrassing as this.

Allura blew a strand of hair out of her face and narrowed her eyes at Pidge. "Can you explain why you were in our vent?"

"I have a very good explanation for that." Pidge scrambled to her feet and wiped her hands on her trousers before helping Allura up. Shiro was already on his feet and looked more than a little amused.

"I'm sure I would like to hear that explanation."

"I thought you would like to know what Haggar and Zarkon are saying behind your back," Pidge said, hoping to distract them for why she had come to them in the vent, rather than the door. "They're planning for you to marry Haggar and then do some kind of magic to turn you Galra. Plus they want you to have a child together so they can steal it and raise it the 'right' way." She realised she was waving her hands about a little too emphatically but Shiro's expression was solemn. He was taking her seriously.

"Are you certain about this?" Allura asked. When Pidge looked at her, the Queen looked less than convinced. Pidge felt her cheeks grow warm as she saw Allura glance between her and Shiro.

"Allura, Pidge wouldn't lie about something like this." Shiro didn't hesitate and when he put one hand on Pidge's shoulder, simply to illustrate his trust in her she knew, she couldn't help but smile.

"Shiro, just because you don't want to marry Haggar, doesn't mean you can jump on the first excuse for this marriage not to take place." The same mechanical mouse that had made Pidge jump in the vent appeared on Allura's shoulder and it was joined by several other mice. Two were made of copper and one of some silver metal, possibly steel. "How did you even hear about this?"

"I was in the vents." Pidge tried to look as innocent as possible. "I'm one of the engineers on this ship and I have to make sure everything is running smoothly."

Allura's eyes were narrowed dangerously. "Hmmm."

"Heard it right out of the horse's mouth." Pidge tried not to smirk too obviously and Shiro coughed deliberately behind her. Allura's eyes narrowed even further and Pidge took a step back. "But I think I should get back to work."

"That would probably be best," Allura said, speaking over Shiro's half-formed protest. He looked at her but stayed quiet at her quelling look. Pidge guessed they wanted to talk about what she had just told them without her being there, but had made it awkward when Allura called her a liar. She couldn't feel too resentful. Spending more time with Shiro was always good but not with his Queen hovering, and the longer she was here, the more her fingers itched to take a look at the clockwork mice.

"I'll see you, Shiro." Pidge half-turned before remembering who else she was talking to. The bow she gave was shallow and far too quick, but Allura looked amused rather than offended so she figured she had gotten away with it. "Nice meeting you, Your Majesty."

"Thank you, Pidge," Shiro said quietly as Pidge left the room. It only took her two seconds to realise she did not want to be on the first class corridor any longer than she had to be and hoisted herself back into a vent.

The steam tunnel could do with a check anyway.

An hour later, she dropped out of the tunnel and ran straight into Iverson who stared down at her with brows furrowed. "Holt, what are you doing here?"

She felt like he could see her guilt all over her face. "Er... I was fixing the steam tunnel but I need another part so I was heading to my room." Her boss nodded, but he still looked suspicious, and she could feel his eyes on her back as she walked away, forcing her to head down instead of up. She was almost at her room when Lance and Hunk intercepted her, yanking her into a cupboard just off to the side of the mess hall. The noise of everyone finishing lunch was muffled in here. It was a tight fit and Pidge tried not to look too hard at the corners where large spiders rested in the middle of webs and focus on her friends.

"You could just come to my room and we could talk there," Pidge pointed out. Hunk and Lance looked serious and sympathetic, though on Lance he looked more constipated than anything else, and it was freaking her out. "You don't have to drag me into a cupboard." It was hot and uncomfortable and she was far too close to both Hunk and Lance.

"We didn't want you to escape," Lance said.

"Keith suggested it. He says he does the same to Shiro when he wants to talk about something and Shiro's avoiding the issue," Hunk explained. Pidge felt her cheeks grow warm at Shiro's name and the realisation that she knew exactly what they wanted to talk to her about.

"Look, it's fine. I don't need to have a talk and trapping me in a cupboard is not the way to do it."

"See?" Lance turned on Hunk, though he had to squirm around him in order to look him in the eye. It was an awkward couple of minutes and he managed to hit Pidge more than once, despite Hunk being between the two of them. "She's fine! We can leave her alone now."

"Well, it seemed like you wanted to talk when Keith showed up," Hunk said to Pidge. "And I thought this would give you a chance to talk without worrying about anyone overhearing." There was a muffled crash from the mess hall as Pidge turned this over.

"I really don't want to talk about Shiro. I've just discovered that the Galra want this wedding to get the Quintessence the Alteans had and use it to start a war." Hunk's eyes went round.

"Really?"

"You're not just making this up so Shiro doesn't marry Haggar?"

Hunk whirled on Lance, knocking something off a shelf just as there is a shout from the mess hall. "Lance! Come on." Pidge was offended that Lance could think she would make up such a huge thing like this and she glared at him. He winced and waved his hands around. "I didn't mean it like that!" He waved his hands and managed to hit Hunk in the face.

"It sure sounded like that." Pidge crossed her arms and scowled at her friend.

"It really did," Hunk said calmly and Lance sighed, dropping his head back to stare at the ceiling in a dramatic fashion. He started muttering to himself but Pidge didn't catch a word of it. There was another crash from the mess hall and she glanced back in the general direction. "Everyone is making a lot more noise than normal."

Someone screamed and all thoughts about Shiro and Haggar and the Galra war was chased out of Pidge's head. That wasn't a good scream.

"What is going on?" Pidge turned around and opened the door, just enough to see Galra soldiers standing outside the mess hall, at which point she shut the door as quickly as possible. There wasn't any shouts, so Pidge opening the door hadn't been seen, and she looked at Hunk and Lance. "Galra soldiers are marching people out of the mess hall. They have guns and everything."

"We have to do something!" Lance said, his face pale.

"No, no, no," Hunk was quick to say. "That's a bad idea. We are three engineers with no combat experience. Going against Galra soldiers would just lead to us being a bloody smear on the floor."

The three of them listened as there were several more screams, crashes of furniture and gunfire. Pidge wished she could cover her ears and pretend this wasn't happening. Coming out of the cupboard would do nothing apart from get them killed too, Hunk was right about that, but the guilt was almost overwhelming as they listened to their colleagues and friends getting attacked and doing nothing to stop it.

It took almost an hour for the noise to stop and for Pidge to get up the courage to crack open the cupboard. The corridor and the mess hall was completely empty.

"What do we do now?" Hunk asked, sounding as lost as Pidge felt.


	4. Chapter 4

Once again that day, Pidge found herself in the air vent, but this time it was for a far less normal reason. She had been voted to go and find out what was going on, considering she was small in size, light, and knew the ventilation system like the back of her hand. It was at times like this Pidge wished she wasn't so curious about everything. Her stomach was jumping with nerves but, if Lance or Hunk had gone in her place, she would be feeling even worse. She was incredibly conscious of how she needed to be fast but also completely quiet. She had no illusions about the Galra, they wouldn't let her go if they found her sneaking around the vents.

She was sweating and the dust in the vent was sticking to her face because of that. Her nose itched and she had to resist the urge to cough. She had never realised how disgusting some of the vents were until she was crawling through them for everyone else's lives. If she had a choice in the matter, she would prefer to be anywhere but here. Even being yelled at by Iverson would be better than stuck in these air vents, tense with the need to not make any sound.

As she thought of Iverson, she realised she could hear his voice. For a second, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her after being stuck in this vent for a better part of a day (though some of that was through her own choice) but then she realised that she could actually hear his voice coming from one of the tunnels.

"...and I demand that you tell us what is going on!" He was saying in his angriest voice. Pidge wondered if everyone could hear the undercurrent of fear running through it. She crawled down the vent, pushing herself down and wiggling through the tight spots. She had no goal in mind to be heading towards so following a familiar voice was as good a plan as any.

Iverson got louder and louder until Pidge was at the entrance to the air vent, the one that led off to the main dining hall. It was where the second and third class passengers dined and so was big enough to take up half of the floor. Pidge could see scores of people, employees and passengers mixed together, all of them sitting on the ground and looking terrified as Galra soldiers walked around, being menacing. Iverson was standing close to the vent, in front of a group of workers, one of them Pidge vaguely recognised from the bridge was bleeding from a head wound and looked out of it, gazing at the ceiling with a scarily blank look on his face.

"You do not need an explanation. You will be seated and wait for Emperor Zarkon's command." The Galra's soldier's tone was dismissive as if Iverson was below contempt. It was a tone designed to irritate and inflame and Pidge could only pray that Iverson wouldn't fall for it. She saw the barb hit and she saw her commander bristle, but then seemed to reconsider it.

"It means they don't know either," one of the women who Pidge normally saw smirking in the engine room said. The Galra soldier's weapon moved faster than Pidge could see and the next moment the woman was holding her nose, groaning in pain. Iverson let out a cry of outrage and knelt down to help her, obviously deciding it was the wiser course of action than confronting the Galra completely. Pidge herself had to cover her mouth to stop herself from making a sound. She swallowed the gasp and started to methodically search the room. There was no sign of any members of Altean or Galra royalty and Keith was absent as well.

This wasn't where she could find out what was happening. With one last look at Iverson, who was trying to stem the bleeding coming from the woman's nose, she started to back up the vent. Upwards seemed to be the best bet in finding Zarkon and finding out what was going on with this hostage situation.

Pidge brushed the dust and sweat out of her eyes and started to climb up the main vent. Thankfully, this one had a ladder; she didn't think her thighs could cope with climbing up an air vent and doing it as quietly as possible. She wished that she had Rover with her. He had been put in her room while she had been sneaking through the vents before and she hadn't had a chance to go and fetch him. He would be worse than useless here but she wished she had the company. Doing this alone made the pressure increase exponentially.

One of her feet slipped on the rung of the ladder and she had that sickening lurch of falling right before she caught herself. She screamed several swear words in her head before continuing steadily up the ladder. Telling herself that she could do this didn't really help, but it got her to the top of the ladder. The vents leading off from the main one were larger. She wouldn't be able to walk without crouching but she could crawl on her hands and knees with space on either side of her and not have to shuffle on her stomach through the tighter areas. The Galra rooms were empty, and she checked the Altean ones just to be sure. Empty as well, though there were signs of a disturbance and Pidge had to swallow down her feeling of nausea when she saw red human blood on the corner of the bar.

It would be fine. She had to find them, find out what was going on, stop the Galra from whatever they were doing without anyone getting hurt and maybe try and do it without getting hurt herself. Piece of cake.

Pidge didn't know where to try after she had tried the various room suites. The observation deck was empty, the cover down, as was the first class dining room and the bridge. The ship was on autopilot, thankfully, but she would feel a lot better when they got an actual human at the controls. Zarkon obviously hadn't thought this through, the crew for a airship was so large for a good reason. Every minute no one was shovelling coal to fuel the ship, or maintaining the rudder, or not keeping an eye on the steam pressure, meant another minute where they were closer to falling out of the sky.

The last place to try was the ballroom reserved for first class. It was a giant, empty room on the top floor of the airship, used primarily for dancing, with large glass doors facing onto balconies. Pidge hadn't seen the point of the doors, the air was too thin to breathe comfortably at this height and you can say goodbye to any fancy hairdo you had with that breeze, but then again, she couldn't see the point of the giant empty space on an overcrowded airship as well.

Zarkon's voice could be heard halfway down the vent. Pidge froze, instinctively recognising the threat, before she had to force herself to move along, a lot slower and more carefully than she had been doing earlier. As she got closer to where the voice was coming from (despite all her instincts telling her to go the opposite way), she could hear Zarkon's words. "...now I'm going to ask you again, Prince Shiro, to marry Haggar. You are lucky to have such a privilege extended to you twice." His words were cordial but his tone was threatening enough to push Pidge past her fear and to the edge of the vent. She was over one of the larger doors, looking down at the Altean royalty on their knees with their hands bound behind their back. Keith was off to the side, with his own guard standing over him, a laceration above his eye bleeding steadily. Haggar and Zarkon were standing in front of the Alteans, several guards standing behind them and at the door.

"Considering you have taken the ship hostage, I no longer have any faith in your good intentions. I'm going to have to refuse." Shiro sounded calm. He had his back to Pidge so she couldn't see his face but she saw his hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists.

"And if we said you marry my sister or I spill your blood, what would your answer be?" Zarkon sounded casual, as if the threat was one he made everyday. Pidge felt a shiver go up her spine and she had to clench her arms to her in order to make sure she didn't shake and make a sound.

"Considering that is what you're planning on doing to me after we marry, my answer will stay the same." Pidge admired how calm Shiro's voice was throughout all of this. None of his nerves or the anger he was bound to be feeling were showing in his voice, not even when Zarkon was holding a weapon to his head. Pidge knew she should start to make her way back to tell Hunk and Lance what was going on, she had been gone for long enough for them to worry, but she was rooted to the spot. Her back and legs were cramping from the position she was in but she ignored the pain, getting unwisely close to the vent.

"And if I said I would spill your Queen's blood, then what would your answer be?"

"I would say," Allura spoke up, her voice not as calm as Shiro's but powerful and inspiring all the same, "that he is to listen to me. Shiro, I order you not to marry Haggar." There was a blow to her face, similiar to what Pidge had witnessed from the Galra soldier earlier, and she was unable to stifle a gasp. It was quiet but she ducked back inside the vent anyway, not wanting to risk being seen. None of the people below seemed to register her presence, although Haggar turned her head slightly in Pidge's direction from her silent stance behind Zarkon. She didn't take her eyes off Shiro so Pidge breathed a silent sigh of relief, thankful she had gotten away with it.

The Prince Consort had let out a cry of rage at Allura being struck and he surged forward to try and get to her, or to get in between her and Zarkon but was unsuccessful.

"If you're not going to agree with our requests, then you are useless to us." Zarkon sounded displeased. Pidge tensed. She didn't know exactly what she could do about Zarkon's plans but she knew she couldn't sit here and do nothing as Shiro or Allura were hurt. "Kill them."

"No!" Keith surged up, face screwed into a pained expression as he staggered as soon as he was upright. Despite his wounds, he managed to get one Galra soldier in the throat with a knife (Pidge had to cover her mouth to stifle her gag at the blood) and disarm another. Zarkon and Haggar did nothing as Keith levelled one of their own weapons at them. When Pidge followed their gaze, she realised why they were so calm.

"Put the weapon down otherwise I shoot all three of them in the head." Shiro, Allura and Coran were kneeling and Galra soldiers were standing behind them, guns pointed directly at the backs of their heads. Pidge wriggled and managed to get her arms out enough to start working at the vent from the inside. "The guns only work for those of Galra blood." Zarkon sounded far too smug for Pidge's liking and she worked quicker at getting the vent to come off.

Keith didn't put the gun down and Pidge could see his desperation as she glanced up from her work. Catching the grate after it dropped out prevented the loud crash but it didn't stop the attention being drawn to her hiding place. A split second and Pidge launched the grate at the Galra soldier below her, hard enough at his head to send him crashing to the floor.

"Oh look, it's the little rat." Zarkon greeted her when she managed to get out (more controlled falling out) of where the vent was. Going back into the vent would just make things worse for the people here, for Shiro, even if Pidge's skin was crawling at coming face to face with Zarkon again.

His words made Shiro start and turn his head, eyes wide with shock and horror. "Pidge, what are you..." Keith went down as Haggar took advantage of his distraction by Pidge's entry to disarm him. Pidge winced. That was not been what she wanted.

"Keep a closer watch on him," Haggar growled at the guard, shoving Keith back into him. "My Emperor, we can't have any rats telling tales." Pidge was suddenly regretting her whole decision not to disappear down into the vents again. A soldier behind her tried to grab her and she evaded him, darting out from underneath his arms and pulling out a wrench to catch him on his knee. The weapons were useless to her but that didn't mean she couldn't throw them into the fountain, hoping the water would deactivate them. When they had first built the ballroom, she had considered the fountain nothing but extravagance but now she was thanking the universe that they had gone with it.

With two soldiers down, the two with their guns on Allura and Coran's heads moved towards her to back up the single one left. Pidge ducked as a shot went over her head and winced when she could smell burning hair. Another shot came as she darted behind the other soldier and it hit him instead.

"Wow, aiming is not your strong suit," Pidge muttered to herself as she watched the soldier in front of her stagger and fall down, clutching his shoulder. The other two armed soldiers started advancing slowly, making Pidge back up. There was a clatter as Shiro and Allura started a two-pronged attack, Shiro on the soldier that had been holding a gun to his head and Allura on Haggar. Coran had slid over and knocked the soldier guarding Keith off his feet, by what looked like accident.

Pidge had a moment to wonder where Zarkon was before she had to dodge another two shots by the soldiers. She jumped onto the ledge of the fountain in the middle of the room and glanced down to make sure she wasn't going to land in the water. Behind her were the large doors that led to the balconies. She noted a sharp breeze before blinding pain sparked in her head and she went face first into the water.

She was blind, she couldn't make sense of everything. She was dizzy and she couldn't breathe, only choke on the liquid filling her lungs as she was pulled from the water.

"Pidge!" Shiro's voice had her turning her head but the next minute she was airborne in the sky, watching the ballroom doors and Zarkon's silhouette, disappear.

He had thrown her off the ship.


	5. Chapter 5

A second after this realisation, panic swept through Pidge and her mind went blank on anything apart from the wide open sky and the empty space below her, the swell of the airship the only thing obstructing her view of the ground. The wind snatched her breath away and she found she couldn't even scream. There was a huge difference in being on the outside of the ship doing repairs and being thrown off the ship to kill you.

With a flash, Pidge remembered that her shoes, wristbands and waistband still contained the magnets she used to stick to the outside of the ship while she was doing repairs. If she got close enough to the ship, the magnets would pull her in and hopefully stick fast. It only took a split second but Pidge had fallen nearly halfway past the airship in the time it had taken to come up with the idea. She used her coat as a makeshift glider, swooping into the side of the ship. She had a flash of victory but it hit her how fast she was going. A moment later, she hit the ship.

Several choice swear words, gleefully learned from Matt, were the only response to the bone shattering pain that went through her whole body, especially the shoulder which had struck the ship first. She slid down the side of the ship for a terrifying second before the magnets caught on part of the metal skeleton of the airship and she halted mid air.

"Take that, Zarkon," Pidge muttered happily. She was hurt, everything ached, it was absolutely freezing without her normal outside work clothes and she had to press her face into the side of the ship so she was able to breathe without the wind snatching the air away but she wasn't dead or dying. All she could do was hope that the others weren't either.

Moving along was always hard, especially since she didn't have her usual uniform on so everything weighed her down. Magnets were good for keeping her stuck to the ship but moving without detaching herself completely was a hard, slow job. She moved herself up the ship, following the line of the metal skeleton in order to get herself up towards the hatch back into the ship. By the time she had reached the hatch, her fingers were numb and her teeth hadn't stopped chattering the whole time.

"So after I throw the Galra off the ship, I am going to take a long, warm bath," Pidge muttered. She didn't have a bath in her quarters, none of the workers did, but she would break into one of the passengers' quarters just to get it. The hatch unlocked but wouldn't open with Pidge lying flat against the side of the ship so she had to push herself away, the magnets detaching and the sickening sweep of her stomach as she felt like she was about to fall, only catching herself on the handle of the hatch.

One tug and it started to creak open. As soon as it was big enough for her to fit through, she squeezed into it and pulled the hatch closed behind her. The hatch opened up into one of the narrow corridors that was reserved for employees on the airship. It was completely empty, unusual normally but not for when the ship was being held hostage by Galra. She knew she had an advantage considering no one would be expecting that she was alive (she was still finding it hard to believe it herself) but she had no idea what to do with that advantage.

She made her way back to the ballroom but the deadly silence Pidge had heard on the way to it the first time in the vents was broken. Everything seemed more relaxed and she froze at the entrance to the first floor corridor, the one which lead to the ballroom, because she didn't know what to do. Indecision weighed on her and she didn't know what would be the right decision. As much as she told herself that she should be moving down the corridor again, the threat of pain and death, lasting death, halted her as much as she wished it didn't.

"Come on." She glared down at her feet and willed them to move but she couldn't. She felt cold, despite being inside and out of the wind, and shivered as she felt frustrated tears prick at the corner of her eyes. If she found out her friends were killed while she was standing here like a coward, then she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

Charging down the corridor might not have been the best idea but it was the only way to be faster than the fear that still wanted to send her running back to her room and hiding. Surprisingly enough, there were no soldiers on the outside of the room but maybe Zarkon had overlooked that? No guards had come into the room after Pidge had taken out the guards inside so it might be possible that most of the available guards were keeping the rest of the ship under control.

"Right, I'm not a fighter but there has to be something I can do." Maybe if she led the Galra away from here. She knew the ship better than they did, surely she could lose them if she got them to chase her. She still had her tools which could double up as weapons, but she didn't have any guns, not even in her quarters. A half-formed plan in mind, Pidge pushed open the ballroom door and stuck her head inside, ready to duck out again or run away.

No Galra soldiers and Zarkon and Haggar lying on the floor was the first surprise. The second was seeing Lance and Hunk in the ballroom, looking just as out of place as Pidge was sure she had looked when she was in there before, the dull, earthy colours of their clothes looking dirty and worn next to the sheer splendour of the ballroom. The next surprise was Shiro sitting on the edge of the fountain, his head in his hands, shoulders slumped, and Lance yelling at him.

"...you just sat there and watched!" Lance's voice cracked as if he was about to cry. Pidge teased Lance about being teary-eyed at the smallest things, but this was ten times worse since he actually sounded upset. Not only that but he was yelling at royalty. Pidge liked Shiro, she really did, but yelling at him right in front of his Queen and her Prince Consort was just asking for a complaint to be sent to Iverson and for Lance to be fired.

"Lance, what do you think you're doing?" Pidge yelled as she stepped into the room fully. The Galra didn't seem to be a problem anymore, or at least she hoped not considering Lance and Hunk were here and taking the time to yell at Altean royalty. Everyone's heads jerked up at her voice, including the bound Haggar's. Zarkon lay still and Pidge wondered if he was dead.

"Pidge!" Everyone yelled and she was immediately pulled into a crushing hug by Hunk, who was closest the door when she came in, then Lance, then Keith (Pidge hadn't pegged him as a hugger) and finally Shiro. His hug was far gentler than the others, more holding her as if she was something fragile and when he pulled back, Pidge could see his eyes were red-rimmed.

"What's wrong?" Right after she had asked this question, she wanted to smack herself. Shiro and his family were just held hostage by Galra who wanted him to marry their Princess so they could cast mind controlling magic on him and take Altean supplies of quintessence. There were plenty things wrong with that sentence all on its own.

"We thought you were dead!" Hunk said as he pulled Pidge away from Shiro to hug her again. She caught Shiro's eye to see that he was looking lost, as if he didn't know what to do with his hands.

"Pidge!" Lance said. "Zarkon threw you off the ship, how are you not dead?!" He whirled on Shiro and Allura. "How is she not dead? Are you sure you saw her being thrown off the ship?"

"Freaking hell, Lance." Pidge rolled her eyes and managed to detach herself from Hunk. He was a hugger and Pidge hadn't truly appreciated how much he was until now. "I can say that Zarkon definitely threw me off the ship. Now can someone tell me what happened?" She gestured to Haggar and Zarkon on the floor. "This wasn't how I left them."

As one, the three of them turned to Shiro. Shiro looked uncomfortable with their scrutiny but determined as if he wasn't worried about what he had done, only their reaction to it. "Zarkon was distracted after he -- after what he did, so I was able to attack him."

"While he and Zarkon were fighting, these two came into the room and distracted Haggar and the one guard left," Keith said as he gestured to Lance and Hunk. "Which meant Allura could take out Haggar and Coran and I the guard."

"Yeah, that's right." Lance looked smug but Hunk held up his hands as if he was about to be yelled at for what he had done.

"It was completely unintentional, just so everyone gets their stories straight." Lance hissed something at Hunk but he was waved off. "We can't just make people think we did something when we didn't. Then they might ask us to do more heroic stuff with the other Galra soldiers and then they'll find out what we can't do when we die."

"We're not going to ask you to fight any more Galra, although your contribution was well-received," Allura said in a calm manner. Lance immediately turned away from Hunk and turned on the charm.

"Well, a thank you kiss from the beautiful Princess wouldn't go amiss." Coran raised an eyebrow and Lance seemingly remembered that the 'beautiful Princess' had a husband to go with the title.

"I believe the correct title is 'Queen Allura'." Coran nodded, apparently the only comment he was going to make on the subject of Lance hitting on his wife, though from what Pidge remembered about the conversation between Shiro and Allura in the vents, the two of them weren't a love match.

"You fought Zarkon?" Pidge asked, ignoring the byplay between the Alteans and her friends. "That was really brave of you." She edged closer to Shiro. She couldn't read the expression on his face, there was something strange behind his eyes and Pidge wanted to pull away from it, to go back to the safety of her room and her Rover and her machines but at the same time, she wanted to move closer.

"It was... it wasn't brave," Shiro said quietly. Keith turned his head a little but didn't look at them. He was giving them their privacy at least. "When Zarkon threw you off, I thought -- I couldn't believe that I had just let it happen."

"Shiro." Pidge moved in front of him and made sure he was looking directly at her. "I think, no, I know that if there had been any way to stop Zarkon from throwing me off the ship, you would have done it. I wasn't expecting him to do that, why would you be expected to know as well?"

"Because I'm trained in combat and I am meant to protect Allura and Coran from getting hurt." Pidge wanted to point out that he had done exactly that but he seemed to read her mind. "I know I did it but what good is having all these skills if you can't protect the important people from getting hurt?"

"Important people?" Pidge grinned as she looked at Shiro.

"Well - I - you - " He opened his mouth and closed it again, looking out of place in a way that Pidge had never really seen from him. The blush that appeared over his cheekbones (and what cheekbones) made Pidge's smile grow even wider.

"You're important to me as well, Shiro."

"Ah, Shiro, are you thanking our intrepid young hero?" Coran was suddenly beside them and he appeared bigger than before. Or maybe it was just the moustache.

"Yes, he was." Pidge stepped in when it looked like Shiro was just going to stare at Coran without actually answering him. "Although, I didn't really do much apart from getting thrown off the ship." She had a feeling that memory was going to play a part in her nightmares for a good long while. She was glad Zarkon was unconscious, though Haggar was looking at everyone with a gaze that was far too steady to be comfortable.

"You distracted the Galra long enough for us to mount a defense! Not to mention inspiring our Prince here with the power of love." Coran put a hand on Shiro's shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. Shiro was now bright red and Pidge had to cover her mouth in fear that she would burst out laughing.

"Pidge, I don't think you have been formally introduced to our Prince Consort, Coran. Coran, this is Katie Holt, otherwise known as Pidge." She was sad about the subject getting changed away from Shiro's 'love' for her but Coran made her laugh with his enthusiastic handshake. A second later Lance let out a yell of frustration, apparently directed at Keith who looked unbothered by everything. Allura was examining his head with a careful expression and Hunk was chattering beside her.

"It's nice to meet you, Your Majesty," Pidge said when the whole ship shook like it was jerking in the sky. Everyone staggered and looked around at each other as if they would know what was going on. The ship continued on straight as it had been before shuddering again. That reminded Pidge of something and she wanted to smack herself for not thinking of it sooner. The drop off the ship must have scrambled her brains more than she had originally thought. "Hey, has anyone done anything about the Galra soldiers holding the rest of the ship hostage?" Several blank looks were directed at her. "Especially considering this ship is running on autopilot until we can get the pilots back in place."

"Oh crap," Hunk said. He and Lance immediately headed for the door, closely followed by Keith and Pidge. "What are we going to do about the Galra? It's not like any of us are fighters!"

Keith gave a pointed cough and Lance bristled.

"We'll deal with Zarkon and Haggar," Allura called after them. Pidge looked back to see Shiro, rather than staying with his fellow Alteans, was following her.

"I'm going with you," he said and that was that.


	6. Chapter 6

"What's the plan? Does anyone have a plan?" Lance asked as they hurried down the corridor to the stairs. "Also does anyone know where we're going?"

"The main dining hall, that's where they're keeping the rest of the passengers," Pidge answered. She turned slightly to start down the employees' corridor, a far quicker way to the second and third class floors, when she ran into Shiro who had been standing close behind her. "Sorry."

"No, it's my fault." Shiro shook himself and his eyes seemed to focus. "Pidge, what can you tell us about the Galra keeping the rest of the people hostage?"

"They're just Galra soldiers, like the ones upstairs. They all had weapons and I suppose there was about fifteen of them?" Now Pidge really wish she had bothered to count them. "They had made everyone sit on the floor though and they weren't shy about keeping people in line." Pidge led the group down the stairs which were narrow enough that they needed to go down in a single line. "Are you sure your Queen and Prince Consort are going to be okay up there?"

"Allura is powerful enough to throw Shiro across the room," Keith said and Pidge could just hear the smirk in his voice, despite him being three people back from Pidge on the stairs.

"They took us by surprise last time and if Allura and Coran are struggling at all, they can radio us." Shiro sounded calm but there was a level of tension in his voice which Pidge hadn't heard before. She hadn't seen any radios on the Alteans' belt but that didn't mean they weren't there. These were the same people who had the healing box after all.

Pidge took a step out of the main staircase, turning left, and was immediately brought up short by a Galra gun being pointed right between her eyes. She froze and immediately felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead. She had survived one murder attempt today, how unlucky would she had to be to get killed on the second? Thankfully, the soldier was angled so he wasn't able to see the others, who had frozen in the stairwell.

"Identify yourself," the Galra soldier demanded, the lower half of his face clenched in what Pidge could assume to be anger. The dark metal of his goggles gleamed at her and she saw herself in the reflective surface.

She thought about lying but she couldn't see what good that would do. It wasn't like her name meant anything, they didn't know who she was or the fact that their leader had tried to kill her. "Katie Holt," she said and pretended the waver in her voice was intentional to fool the guard.

"Why were you not rounded up with the others?"

"What others?" Pidge played dumb but eyed the gun with all too real trepidation. "You sleep through one lunch break and everyone disappears. You're one of the Galra, aren't you? Can you point that thing somewhere else?"

The soldier thought for a moment and then there was a blinding pain coming from Pidge's jaw and she was on the ground with her ears ringing so much she couldn't tell what was going on around her. She opened her eyes and blinked rapidly in order to stop tears from escaping. When she could focus, the face that became clear was Shiro's.

"Some day I will see you when I'm not being hurt," Pidge said, or slurred rather. She was fed up of being hit in front of Shiro and him having to rescue her all the time. If she wanted to develop their relationship, even just as friends, he had to stop seeing her as this small child that needed to be protected. That would never happen as long as the universe kept proving him right.

At Pidge's comment, Shiro's face made a strange and horrible expression which Pidge wouldn't be able to identify even if her life depended on it. It felt like something had cracked inside of Shiro and Pidge knew she didn't like it at all. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and felt several hands help her.

The Galra soldier was lying on the floor in front of her, slack and unconscious. Lance and Hunk were standing next to it, while Keith was kneeling next to her along with Shiro, though his eyes were on Shiro rather than on Pidge.

"You knocked him out?"

"Yeah, Shiro did it as soon as the guy hit you," Hunk said frankly. Lance had been poking the Galra soldier with his boot and Hunk pulled him back before answering Pidge. "He was so quick, we didn't even see him move." Hunk turned to look at her properly. "Are you sure you're okay to be sitting up? The hit sounded really bad."

"I'm fine," Pidge said, not only to Hunk but also to the rest of them, especially Shiro who was watching her with worried eyes. "Sounded worse than it was." When this was done, she was never going to complain about too much work from Iverson again. All she wanted to do is get back to Rover and her machines and the pleasant, comforting sounds of the ship all around her. No more Galra with guns, no more being hurt, just her friends and her machines. Exactly how she liked it.

She realised that sooner rather than later, her family was going to find out about the Galra attack and Pidge would have to come up with some way of making sure Matt didn't storm onto the ship, overcome with worry about his little sister who used to trail him like a puppy. But she couldn't think about Matt now, otherwise she would probably cry, out of sheer exhaustion if nothing else and they still had things to do. "We have to go." She tried to get up but felt dizzy enough that she soon found herself back on the ground.

"We'll go," Keith said firmly as he helped Lance and Shiro lower her back down to the ground again. Pidge was glad they hadn't let her fall, a headache was fast developing behind her eyes and she really didn't want to hit her head again. "Shiro will stay with you."

"What? No, Keith, I need to come with you." Shiro waved his metal arm at Keith in a gesture which said more than words did.

"You're also a Prince and you should have stayed with Allura and Coran," Keith said. Pidge knew instantly that this was the wrong thing to say as anger bloomed on Shiro's face. Shiro was an expressive guy but he didn't have the same expressions as Lance did, his anger was in the clenching of his jaw and the slight narrowing of his eyes, not the overblown reaction Lance would have done. He and Hunk were watching the Shiro and Keith argument with wide eyes but neither of them looked like they were going to step in the middle.

It looked like it was up to Pidge. "I'll be fine on my own. Or Hunk could stay with me." Lance would definitely like to be in the middle of the action while Hunk was far more sensible. Plus he was far better at the caretaking than Lance was, when Pidge had the flu last year, Lance had inadvertently made her throw up when he bought his greasy smelling dinner into her room.

Keith glanced at her. "And what happens if another Galra soldier finds you?" This seemed to make Shiro pause and indecision worked to move the anger off his face.

"We'll hide," Hunk said promptly. "Come on, Keith, Shiro will be far more useful than I would be in fighting Galra soldiers."

Keith looked mutinous but there were no more arguments from him. Now it was Shiro who was looking unsure and judging by his worried glances at Pidge, she thought she could guess why he was hesitating. This made her feel warm and happy inside, as well as more than a little annoyed. It was really sweet of him to be worrying about her but she didn't need another brother, Hunk would be perfectly able to look after her when the three of them went downstairs.

"Hunk is right. Shiro, you'll be far more useful fighting the Galra than he would. No offence, Hunk," she added as an afterthought but her easy-going friend waved it off. "And we definitely don't have time arguing about this, the ship needs to have the crew back into place as soon as possible." Shiro's indecision vanished and he nodded, looking the most Prince-like she had seen from him on this ship. Keith's concern was easy to read, he was supposed to protect Shiro, even if it meant holding back from fighting where he was needed, but Pidge knew Shiro could fight and that was what they needed.

"We'll see you soon, guys," Lance said cheerfully, already moving down the corridor. Hunk waved at him and Pidge raised a hand. Keith gave her a look before he turned to follow Lance, and Shiro -- his look was far more intense. Pidge felt herself start to redden before Shiro turned around and she and Hunk watched him walk away.

"Somehow that was far more uncomfortable than walking in on Lance having sex that one time," Hunk commented as soon as the three of them had rounded the corner. Pidge's cheeks burned and she spluttered in answer. It made her head hurt so she stopped quickly, but she still gave Hunk an annoyed look.

"Thanks for that," she said. Hunk shrugged and moved around to kneel beside her.

"I'm guessing running is not going to be something you'll want to do in the near future," he commented. Pidge shook her head, feeling nauseated at the very thought. "So, we'll go and find a handy cupboard to hide in before the Galra force us too."

"Why not just sit on the stairs?" Pidge asked. The thought of moving made her want to curl up into a ball and whimper quietly.

"Somewhere we could hide would be better." Hunk eyed her with concern. "You really not feeling great?"

"You know the first time you went with Lance to test the lifeship?" Pidge watched Hunk's face turn faintly green at the memory. "I think if I move too fast then it's going to be a repeat of that." She moved her head to glance down the corridors where the other three had gone. "Hopefully, we won't have to hide for long." The ship shuddered and seemed to drop altitude as she said this, proving her point. Slowly but surely, Hunk helped her to stand and move slowly towards the stairs. As her stomach lurched, Pidge felt new sympathy for Hunk and silently vowed she wouldn't make fun of Hunk being airsick ever again.

Pidge never guessed how boring waiting would be. Underneath the boredom was a low-level of anxiety and fear, so they were too scared to even talk in case of drawing Galra attention to their hiding spot, but there was nothing they could do to move the time along. There was no way of knowing how the other three were doing and all Pidge had to concentrate on was how worried she was over the three of them or how sick she felt. She felt tired and worn out as well and soon found herself drifting off to sleep on Hunk's shoulder.

The next time she opened her eyes, there was a feeling of disorientation as she realised she was liking flat and the surface she was lying on was far more comfortable than the floor or even the staircase. Her headache was mostly gone, though her body still ached from where she had fought the Galra soldiers and Zarkon.

"Pidge!" Lance's voice was loud and made her startle badly. Luckily, the nauseous feeling and the headache were gone so all it did was make her heart beat faster and the adrenaline turn her fear into anger when she realised what had made her jump.

"Shouting around the concussed patient is a stupid idea," someone said and it took Pidge a while to realise it was Keith. She opened her eyes to see Lance, Hunk and Keith on her left side, while Shiro was sitting in a chair near her right side, Allura and Coran standing close behind him. All of them were wearing nearly identical expressions of relief on their face.

Pidge wanted to ask what had happened but the memory of everything started to come back to her. It was a little weird that she had fallen asleep in the staircase with Hunk and then woken up in what she now recognised as the hospital infirmary on the airship, but no weirder than anything else that had happened today. "I'm guessing you managed to stop the Galra then," she said as she cautiously sat up. There was no dizziness or headache and she felt herself smile as she managed to get mostly upright without having to lie down again.

"It was so cool," Lance immediately started to talk again. "You should have seen us."

"Shiro and I, you mean," Keith said, causing Lance to immediately turn on him and Coran to step nearer the bed and flash a light in Pidge's eyes. She cringed back, the light was just a little too bright right now, and it made her head start to ache again but she was able to answer all his questions correctly.

"Still got a concussion then," Coran said when Pidge told him about the headache that still remained, though nothing as bad as it was before. Shiro looked concerned at this bit of information and Hunk looked freaked out, or at least more freaked out than he had before.

"Aren't you going to put her back in the machine? The healing cube thing?" Hunk asked.

"The healing pod gives a jumpstart on her own healing. It has fixed most of the brain damage Pidge received, but it won't be able to heal her completely. She'll have to take it easy for the next few days." All of her friends looked strange at the words 'brain damage', worried and a little sick. It was not expressions she wanted to see on their faces, so she said the first thing that came to mind to lighten the mood.

"Hey, do you think I could eat now? I'm starving." They had missed lunch due to the Galra attack and it seemed to be long past dinner time, or at least that was what her stomach was telling her. Her question did seem to wipe most of the concern off their faces and she felt a distant sense of relief underneath the hunger. It didn't take long before Hunk to rustle up food for everyone and to bring up a meal that was more suited to a three course formal dinner than the five of them sitting around Pidge's bed eating off their knees. Allura and Coran had disappeared to talk to the captain of the ship, now back in control and more than a little apologetic of how the Galra manage to gain control of the ship so easily.

"Iverson has been around to see you, but you were unconscious. He got stitched up by the medic, he didn't like the look of the Altean healing thing," Lance said, talking with his mouth full in a way that was comforting in its normalness at the same time as being disgusting. Pidge was used to it but Keith made a face and drew Lance into an argument as easily as breathing over it. Hunk was eating his meal steadily at the end of his bed as Shiro leaned in.

"I'm glad you're alright," he said quietly, smiling up at Pidge in the way that made her feel like she was the most important person in the room. She was helpless to do anything but smile back.

"Me too," Pidge replied before wanting to hit herself in the head. What kind of an answer was that? Of course she was glad that she was alright. "I mean, you too," she said hastily. Shiro grinned and ducked his head, looking shy and boyish and making Pidge's heart beat faster.

"Pidge, how did you survive getting thrown off the ship?" Hunk asked after he had taken the last mouthful of food, seemingly oblivious to Shiro and Pidge having a quiet conversation at the other end of the bed. Pidge wanted to snap at him for interrupting the moment but she realised Keith and Lance had stopped arguing to look interested in her answer.

She sighed and answered, "I was still wearing my gear." Lance and Hunk nodded, already looking satisfied with that answer but Shiro and Keith just stared. "I do repairs on the outside of the ship and have to be able to stick to the ship while I do them. So magnets."

"Wait, you go outside the ship normally?" Shiro looked like he didn't know whether to be impressed or worried. Pidge sniggered as she helped herself to more of the food Hunk had prepared.

"Yeah, apart from normally I'm dressed in warmer clothes." Pidge took a mouthful of some sort of purple soup that Hunk had made and realised she had accidentally eaten some of the Altean soup instead. It was a really strange flavour. "It gets really cold at there. But it was lucky I was wearing my magnets still, it wasn't like I could anticipate being thrown off the ship like that." Her friends stopped eating to stare at her, all of them looking some kind of variation of ill.

"Let's not think about that," Hunk was the first one to say and the others nodded their agreement. Lance, Keith and Hunk went back to their meals but Shiro didn't. He hadn't eaten that much, but now he looked down at his food with a pale and drawn look on his face. Pidge noticed, now that she had the time to notice, how exhausted he looked. Dark circles underneath his eyes and lines around his mouth, all of which she was sure hadn't been there this morning when she had broken into his and Allura's room to talk to them.

"You look like you could use some sleep," she said quietly, hesitating over the comment. It was meant to be as neutral as possible but she couldn't escape the fact that Shiro was a Prince, Altean born or not, and he might get annoyed at Pidge poking her nose into his business. He had shown no inclination to do anything of the like but she was naturally cautious about it. Zarkon may not have known what he was talking about, but his words echoed in her head nonetheless.

Shiro's lips quirked in a smile that wasn't a smile. "Easier said than done." A daring idea came to Pidge but she didn't dare to voice it. Shiro hadn't confided in exactly why he wasn't able to sleep and suggesting that sleeping in the adjacent bed to Pidge would help seemed to be the height of arrogance. Pidge knew engines and machines, but this was something she couldn't figure out and she was nervous in a way that she had never been before, worried about putting a foot wrong and messing up what the two of them had.

The moment dropped and the two of them turned back to the group in mutual, silent agreement to move onto happier topics. It didn't stop Pidge worrying about Shiro after he left and the worry followed her into her dreams about falling through the sky with nothing to catch her.


	7. Chapter 7

Pidge liked staying in bed, relaxing and having her meals brought to her as much as the next person but there was definitely too much of a good thing. After a few hours, Pidge was bored and her friends had gone to sort out the mess the Galra had caused. Queen Allura had dropped by to thank Pidge for everything she had done and she seemed much more impressed by Pidge than she had been before. They had mostly talked about airship tech, something Allura obviously knew a lot about, which helped to ease the awkwardness of a royal visit, but then she had to leave too. The only person left behind was Coran. She probably should call him 'Your Majesty' but it seemed too grand a title for someone that was so... silly. He made jokes about something called the 'slipperies' and mentioned strange names as if Pidge should know what he was talking about. Altea was on the other side of the planet to where Pidge's family lived and it felt like the other side of the solar system with how different they were.

Then Coran handed her a piece of Altean tech and he became her new favourite person.

"What are you doing?" Shiro asked as Pidge took the final piece out of the box and put it on the bed. Coran had told her to find out what the box did so she was taking it apart and building it from the ground up.

"Hi, Shiro," Pidge said. She glanced at him, he looked well if confused, and she went back to the tech. "Have you seen this tech? Of course you have, you live with it. It's so streamlined, it doesn't even run on steam! How do we not have this tech?"

"I believe Altean tech doesn't work for everyone. Terra can't afford to import Altean tech and Altean tech can't be build anywhere else but Altea." Shiro sat down in the chair next to Pidge's bed and she was left with a dilemma. Cool new tech or Shiro?

Coran went stalking past, holding a tablet in one hand. "Have you seen a mouse? It has something of mine." Pidge and Shiro watched him go out of the room and Pidge realised her lovely tech trance was well and truly broken.

"So, how is everyone? Was the woman alright? I saw her get hit by one of the Galra. And the rest of the crew." Pidge felt a pang of shame. She hadn't even considered anyone as soon as Coran had handed her the cube. "Sorry, I've been pretty useless."

"Pidge, you got hurt. All you should have been doing was resting." Shiro eyed the pieces of the cube spread over her bedspread. Pidge put her hands over the pieces in a protective gesture. Yes, her head was aching a little bit but boredom would kill her quicker than any head injury. She said as much and Shiro rolled his eyes. "Lance and Hunk said something similar. About you putting tech before anything else?"

"Not everything else," Pidge answered and immediately felt herself go bright red. "Ah, I mean..." She trailed off. This was not something she had experience with and her mind had gone blank as a way to get out of this situation with the least amount of humiliation possible.

Shiro looked pleased and a faint pink colour had swept over his cheekbones. "That's good to hear." He shifted in his seat and Pidge turned her gaze back to the cube parts. Machines made a lot more sense than people, even ones she didn't know anything about like the cube. "I'm glad you're alright, Pidge."

"Me too." Pidge smiled at him and he returned it, though it was a shadow of his normal one. Pidge felt a little thrill that she knew Shiro well enough that she knew his normal smile. It hadn't been more than a few days since they first met for the first time but Pidge was already dreading when Shiro would have to get off the ship. It was one of the things she disliked the most about herself, she never could enjoy the moment, it was always looking forward at the end of it. She started to put the cube back together, not liking having nothing to do with her hands. "Do things like this happen to you a lot? Galra taking you prisoner?"

"Not this as such. I've never been held hostage on an airship by Emperor Zarkon and Princess Haggar. The last time I was held hostage it was by a desperate Altean who wanted to talk to Allura. All he wanted to do was confess his love to her before she married Coran and couldn't see another way of doing it."

Pidge blinked. "That was why you were held hostage?" The cube was half-formed but it looked fairly different to when Pidge had taken it apart. "Was it just you?"

"Yes, it was just me. The man was nice enough, he was just a little confused." Shiro was now looking at the cube as well, his forehead furrowed. "I'm pretty sure that's a mimic cube. Why has Coran given it to you?"

"He gave it to me to see if I could figure out how it worked. I may have been complaining just a little." Pidge smiled sheepishly before getting back to the topic at hand. "You're being strangely nice about the man who took you hostage. Will you be saying Zarkon was a little confused in a few days?" She made sure her tone was joking but Shiro's expression went strangely blank.

"No, I won't." There was a tense note in the air but Pidge didn't feel afraid of Shiro as such, instead she wanted to touch him, to comfort him in some way but again her lack of experience was hampering her. When Lance was homesick, it was Hunk that was the one to comfort him. Pidge distracted Lance with cool gadgets afterwards.

"Shiro." Pidge didn't know what she wanted to say but she changed her mind halfway through and shook her head. "When are we landing?"

"Er... I'm not sure. We were close to Altea last I checked so probably only a couple of days." Pidge put the cube back together and it light up pink and started to hum after she did so. "Pidge, I would like to write to you if that's alright."

Pidge blinked in surprise and let go of the cube. It hovered, almost silently, and Pidge really wanted to examine it properly. She still didn't understand how it was being powered without steam or coal or even clockwork like Rover or the mice she saw earlier but Shiro was taking precedent here. "You want to write to me?"

"Yeah, of course," Shiro said. He looked honestly surprised and Pidge felt herself start to go red again. She really hated her pale skin sometimes.

"Then sure." They were grinning stupidly at each other when the door swung open when Coran came through holding one of the clockwork mice, followed by Keith and Lance, both of them looking grumpy.

"Hey guys, have you come to spring me?" Pidge asked. She leapt out of bed, grabbing the cube on the way.

"I came to spring you," Lance made sure to say. "i'm not sure why this bozo is here." He jerked his thumb back at Keith who scowled and folded his arms. Pidge rolled her eyes and looked at Shiro, hoping to share a look over the idiocy of their friends but Shiro didn't return the look. Instead he was staring at Keith with a resigned look on his face.

"You've come to fetch me, haven't you?"

Keith shrugged but he looked regretful as he glanced at Pidge. "The other countries want to know what happened with the Galra and why we're holding Zarkon and Haggar as prisoners."

"That's crap!" Lance said. He looked horrified and pissed off but this time it wasn't directed at Keith. "Zarkon tried to kill Pidge! And Shiro and Queen Allura!"

"Of course it's crap." Keith rolled his eyes. "But Shiro is calm and has a way of making sure people listen to him."

Shiro's mouth quirked in what could be called a smile if you were being generous. It was nothing like the shy, easygoing ones Pidge had seen him make in all sincerity. She could see Shiro she knew being squashed down and the Prince of Altea coming to the forefront. "You yelled at them, didn't you?" He asked Keith, who tried to look nonchalant even as a red flush spread across his cheekbones.

"Good thing too, I want to yell at them," Lance put in bluntly.

Shiro turned to Pidge, a careful, resigned look already on his face. "I'm sorry, Pidge," he started but she held up the hand not holding the cube to stop him from saying more. Hearing his apologies, no matter how sincere they were, wasn't going to help the fact Pidge had just been reminded that he was a Prince. She was an engineer on an airship, a great airship of course, but people like her were a dime a dozen.

"It's okay, Shiro. You have to do what you have to do. And," she grimaced, something not entirely put on, "I probably should go and check in with Iverson." Lance sniggered and Pidge wondered whether it would be worth the risk of breaking her magic cube in order to throw it at her friend.

"Yeah, while you're out schmoozing the rest of the planet, Pidge will be scrubbing the propellers until they shine." It was a favourite punishment of Iverson and one Pidge was not looking forward to, especially since the majority of the propellers were on the outside and she hadn't gone outside the ship since Zarkon had thrown her out into the unforgiving blankness of the sky.

"Might as well get this over with." Pidge sighed theatrically, but she gave Shiro a little wave before heading out of the medical wing.

Surprisingly enough, Iverson didn't punish her. The same man who had punished her for even looking at him in the wrong direction looked almost happy to see her. There was a shine to his eyes that Pidge was terrified to see and she hoped he wouldn't start crying in front of her.

"I noticed you three weren't with us but I thought you had been rounded up somewhere else, or your mouthy friend had been too chatty and the Galra had... that they had... they didn't take backtalk very well." Iverson looked off-balance as if someone had told him the sky was purple and he had just been seeing it wrong all these years. It made Pidge feel strange to see him so affected by what had happened. It felt like she wasn't reacting properly, despite what had happened to her being arguably worse than what happened to Iverson. She knew it wasn't fair, to her or to Iverson, because everyone reacted differently but she looked at him struggling to find the words and she wondered if there was something broken inside of her. She hadn't even cried, not even where she had nightmares where she failed to get a grip on the edge of the ship and had fallen to her death.

"Well, we're fine now. The Alteans fought off the Galra and nobody was seriously hurt." Pidge was the one most seriously hurt but she already felt ten times better and there was no need for Iverson to know the ins and outs of what had happened.

"Yes, well, I think the Captain will be looking at more security for the ship next time we take on passengers." Iverson looked steadier now, like having something to do had made everything a little easier to deal with. Pidge gripped the cube hard in her hand and she felt, for the first time in a long time, as if she wanted to get off this airship. Suddenly she was sick of hearing the machinery whirring in the background, of hearing the wind rush by the ship, or being stuck on the same place as the person who had tried to kill her.

"T-that's good. Anyway, I have to go and do... the thing." Iverson looked surprised but he didn't raise a protest as Pidge hurried out of the room. She didn't know where she was going, simply letting her feet carry her away, through the corridors, until she ended up outside her room. It hadn't been her intention but she opened the door and was immediately greeted by the sight of Rover on his charging station. He wouldn't have known she was gone for so long, he went into a state of almost hibernation on the charging station, but she felt guilty for barely thinking about him after everything that had happened.

She released his station and he sprang up, his tail wagging at her, his eyes glinting as his clockwork came into play. Pidge had made him clockwork, able to run until he needed to be wound up again. Her father had been so sure that Rover would win her some sort of prize but that would have involved Rover being dissected and she couldn't have that.

"Hey, boy." She stroked his cool, metal head and felt a relief so fierce her eyes grew wet at the feel of it. This was one being on this ship that remained unchanged. He didn't care what the Galra had done, he didn't care that Pidge was maybe a little bit broken after everything, all he cared about was doing what he was programmed to do. "Come on then." Her room, much as she normally loved it, felt even more stifling than Iverson's office had. She needed to be off this ship but since that wasn't an option right now, she needed to be in the one place she was sure Zarkon hadn't gone.

She wasn't the only one to have the same idea.

The figure of the Prince, dressed up in Altean blue, was a surprising but welcoming sight. "Shiro, I wasn't expecting you here," Pidge said. She was pleased to see him but it came out more accusatory than anything. Shiro jumped, obviously not expecting anyone either, and whirled around to face her. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, a sheepish look on his face.

"Pidge, you're here." He glanced around the observation deck as if to check they were alone. "I can go, if you want me to."

Pidge took a moment to reply. "No, of course not." She didn't know why she sounded so reluctant, she wanted to see Shiro, she just wanted to see him when she didn't feel like she was falling apart. Shiro's arm dropped back to his side and he gave her a piercing look, as if he could read everything she wasn't saying.

"I'm just trying to escape Allura. I may have said some things to the Galactic Commission delegate that were.. unwise to say the least." He took a step backwards, holding up his hands. "But you don't have to be polite, I really can go."

"No." Pidge steps forward, her boots sounding louder than normal on the metal floor. "I do want you to see you, but I feel like I'm not great company right now. My head is," she made a hand gesture to try and demonstrate something she couldn't put into words, "after everything."

Shiro's eyes softened and, once again, Pidge was reminded of just how good-looking Shiro was. She had the sudden urge to move forwards until she and Shiro were pressed against each other and then seeing what happened from there but she was distracted by a mechanical bark coming from Rover. "Hey, I remember him." Shiro kneels down and offers his hand to Rover, a mirror image of when they first met, and Pidge feels her heart melt.

"He's the only thing that's unchanged on this ship," Pidge found herself saying. "Everyone else is really freaked out by what happened with the Galra, even if they're getting on with their jobs right now. I wouldn't be surprised if several people transfer out as soon as they can. And some of the other passengers are getting off at Altea to get a different flight back home."

Shiro looks serious now, though he doesn't stop stroking Rover along his tin can head. He sits down on one of the benches facing the observation window and Pidge slides in next to him, closer than she probably should but needing Shiro's calming presence.

"And what about you, Pidge? Will you get off this airship, get a job on land?"

Pidge looks out at the observation deck, the blue sea stretching out below her. Several purple and white birds flew past the window, a sure sign they were getting closer to Altea by the hour. "Right now, it feels like being on land would be the best thing ever. I know that as soon as I spend more than a couple of days on land, I would be begging to come back on the ship, but right now, it's hard. It's never hit me before just how trapped you are on an airship. There is nowhere else to run, when the Galra rounded everyone up, there was no one we could call who would get here on time. We were completely alone. It was like being in space, apart from if Zarkon had thrown me out into space, I would have died pretty much instantly." Pidge wonders what would be worse, dying in an instant, or watching your death rise up to meet you.

Shiro's left hand, his metal hand, clenched into a fist and Pidge heard the gears working inside its casing. "Pidge, I'm really sorry about what happened to you with Zarkon."

"It wasn't your fault." That much Pidge was sure of. "I know that if there had been any way of preventing it, you would have done it."

"I would have," Shiro said, his voice almost cracking under his sincerity. "It took me a while to realise what Zarkon had done, I couldn't believe that he had thrown you off the ship. And it was all because you were trying to help me."

"Not terribly well," Pidge muttered, more to herself than to him. "Look, I like you, Shiro, and you being there was a motivating factor. But I probably still would have done it if it had been Allura and Coran. I wasn't thinking much at the time, as was probably obvious, but it was the right thing to do." Next time she would find a way of doing the right thing without being nearly killed, or at least get hold of a gun she could shoot, but they were all in one piece after everything.

"I know, you're a good person. But every time I close my eyes, I see you fall." Shiro ducked his head as his voice broke on the last word and Pidge inched herself closer. She stretched out a hand and hesitated before laying it on Shiro's shoulder.

"Yeah, I have nightmares about it too," Pidge said bluntly. "As well as seeing Zarkon holding a gun to your head. And the time he dragged me out from the bar by my hair. Zarkon features in a lot of my nightmares." She would be so happy when she could get the Galra Emperor off her ship. "Being scared isn't something to be ashamed of."

"I'm supposed to have it more together than this," Shiro said. She didn't know whether it was her imagination or not, but he seemed to be closer than he had been before. "Alfor chose me to be a Prince because he thought I could handle it."

"I thought Alfor chose you because you saved Allura's life? Or his life? I'm unsure of the details." Rover pressed against her knee and she gave him an absent-minded stroke.

"I'll tell you the story sometime." Shiro sat up a bit, his voice sounding lighter.

"Prince doesn't mean perfect. You'll allowed to be freaked out when one of your friends almost gets killed in front of you. As long as you don't break down in front of this Galactic Commission you were talking about, I think Allura will be okay with you having to take some time." She had been rubbing her hand over Shiro's back, like she was soothing a child. As soon as she noticed this, she froze and Shiro looked up.

"Not just a friend." He was leaning closer now, Pidge was sure of it. Or maybe she was getting closer. It was hard to tell when she was close enough to smell the kind of aftershave Shiro used.

"Shiro!" The voice swept through the observation deck a second after Pidge had finally gotten to kiss Shiro. They broke away from each other but didn't move away.

"I swear, between your friends and mine..." Shiro left the sentence unfinished but Pidge nodded in agreement. She wasn't ashamed of being seen like this with Shiro but it still made her tense when Keith came onto the observation deck and her and Shiro were inches apart. Pidge had her hand on his neck and Shiro had let his forehead press against the side of her head. Pidge could see Keith's expression but Shiro couldn't and didn't show any sign of wanting to move.

Keith looked surprised for a split second but then quickly went the bright red of embarrassment when he caught Pidge's eye. She made sure to give him the most unimpressed look she could muster when she had Shiro this close.

"I think I'll go and tell Allura that I couldn't find you." Keith backed out of the observation deck as fast as he could without tripping over his own feet and Pidge snorted a laugh as the door shut behind him.

"Poor Keith," she said as she pulled back from Shiro, still sniggering.

"Poor Keith, what about poor me?" Shiro asked jokingly. "Allura is probably wanting to tell me that I should leave you to go and deal with the Planetary Commission. What kind of a trade is that?"

"It's good I rate higher than the Planetary Commission," Pidge said. She couldn't quite stop smiling long enough to say this and her amusement was clear in her voice.

"Much higher," Shiro said, before pulling Pidge into a proper hug. She wished she could sneak another kiss but the moment was gone, Keith having reminded them that despite the lack of people, anyone could enter the observation deck.

"I'm going to miss you when we land," Pidge said, the words slipping out of her. She didn't want to ruin the moment with sadness but the ticking clock was always on her mind. Several Altean birds flew past the window as if to serve as her reminder.

"Me too." Shiro placed a kiss on her shoulder, something that she could feel warm beneath her shirt, but he didn't let go. She held onto him as long as she could. "We'll write and we'll see each other again." Pidge didn't see how that was possible but she was happy for Shiro to be the optimistic one.


	8. Epilogue

Planet Standard Day - 21  
Letter 3

Dear Shiro,

I was right, half the crew transferred off the ship as soon as we landed in Terra. Iverson is still sticking around though but he seems almost nice at times. It's weird, I think he smiled at me the other day. Either that or he was smiling in my general direction, but it was still strange to see Iverson smiling. I'm pretty sure my parents would want me to transfer off the ship when they hear what happened, which is why I haven't gotten around to telling them what happened. They're bound to read it in the newspapers, I'm sure, but I really don't want to have to go into the details.

I taught Rover a new trick. I was going to tell you but I think I'm going to save it for next time I see you. ~~I knew Pidge was writing more than usual~~ Sorry, that was Hunk. He and Lance are somehow around more than ever, though I think both of them have planned time off the ship in the future. They both miss their families. Lance has a message from Keith but it's far too long for me to write it all down and I'm pretty sure Keith couldn't care less anyway. The gist is 'I'm better than you nah nah nah nah'. Hunk has been writing to Coran, apparently sharing recipes, which is a scary thought.

The nightmares aren't so bad now. When I wake up, I tell Rover about them and he always listens. It helps to say it out loud, although it probably helps more now that I know the Planetary Commission have found Zarkon guilty and locked him up for fifty years. How long do Galra live that isn't life imprisonment? I hope it makes you feel better too, thinking of Zarkon rotting in a cell somewhere far, far away from both of us.

We're doing nothing but milk runs at the moment. I think the Captain is reluctant to do longer trips at the moment so we're mostly hopping between islands. They're great and it's good to get off the ship, but the three of us are getting a little bored. I wish we were stopping in Altea.

Write soon.

Pidge

 

Planet Standard Day - 32  
Letter 8

Dear Pidge,

I'm telling you, Coran turned into a marasight which is this kind of Altean bear that breathes fire. Only he was still Coran so he kept setting himself on fire. I don't know how he did it considering those bears' coats are meant to be fireproof, but he started to panic and then Alfor started to panic and Allura was looking at me as if to say how ridiculous they were. I really glad no one else was around because otherwise the image of a stately, calm royal family would be shattered. It is a lot funnier looking back on it though.

The new Altean airship is coming along really well. Allura is focusing on that and leaving me to do a lot of the other stuff. I don't mind too much, she knows airships far better than I do, and when it's done we're going to be spending most of our time on it so it makes sense for it to be comfortable. Haggar got a lighter sentence than Zarkon, don't ask me how because if she had the opportunity, I think she would do exactly the same as him, but Allura is really aware of security on the new airship so she's consulting with all the top security experts. And Keith, because he quite frequently gets around the castle defences somehow. He's got some stuff going on at the moment and it's keeping him distracted at least.

It's both easier and harder being down on land again. I miss being on an airship but when I was on the HMS Leo afterwards, every time I would look out the window, I would get this sickening lurch as I looked at the drop. It's ridiculous, I wasn't the one thrown off, but my mind keeps stuttering as I look at the height. It's getting better but I don't think I'll ever look at the view again in quite the same way.

I need to get myself a Rover too.

Shiro

 

Planet Standard Day - 50  
Letter 19

Dear Shiro,

So you're saying this Slav manages to get under your skin like nothing else? I would pay to see that, or rather, hear Keith describe it. You have to admit that you're normally so calm and collected, it would be weird to see you lose your cool. Of course, there are nicer ways of losing your composure...

Flirting by letter is a lot harder when you have nosy friends who come and read over your shoulder. Lance is now shuddering on the floor and wailing about me being his innocent baby sister and that his eyes have been defiled. Don't worry, I kicked him and pointed out that I was older than him and I know what he got up to with that girl at our last stopover.

Yeah, that shut him up.

Inept flirting aside, we're finally going back to Altea. Nothing has happened on the milk runs (apart from some of the crew dying of boredom), so the captain feels confident enough to take us back out into the open skies. You're going to be there, right? I know your airship is on its way to being fixed but it's not there yet.

Please tell me I'm not going to land at Altea just as you leave. That would really suck.

I can't wait to see you again.

Pidge

 

_Planet Standard Day 75_   
_Aeres Hiring Department_   
_Airship Committee_

_Dear Ms Holt,_

_We are delighted to offer you a job as Senior Engineer on the Airship Aeres. It is a full-time position with benefits included in the package, equivalent to the Chief Engineer position on HMS Leo. We are aware your primary residence is on Terra but work on an airship currently and are therefore aware of the long periods of time you would be away from your home and loved ones._

_You were recently involved with the incidence on the HMS Leo involving the Galra and the Altean Royal Families. Your conduct has come highly recommended and after the head of our committee spoke to you, she was more than impressed with your intelligence, your knowledge about the technology you oversee and your want to keep elevating your learning._

_We have attached your job requirements, salary, benefits and any other information you may require. These are all non-negotiable for the moment, however there will be a probation period of three months and if that is cleared, you will be able to request any changes you require. If you choose to accept this job, please send us a telegraph to the address at the top of this letter, and your expected arrival date at Altea after serving your notice period at your current job and travel distance to Altea._

_We look forward to hearing from you._

_Captain Alba_   
_In Queen Allura's Name_

**_Pidge, I haven't told Shiro about this job offer. I want you to accept or reject this job depending on how you feel about it. After I talked with you, I talked with the Captain and your boss and they all say you know what you're talking about. I need someone smart and someone I can trust on Aeres, especially the people who are keeping my ship in the air. The Aeres sets sail in fifteen days time, I hope you'll be on it._ **


End file.
